#1 Washington DC (USA)
Founder’s Day Luncheon
Ikebana Demonstration of Ikenobo
Naotaka Nakamura, a third generation Ikenobo Professor, who was visiting from Japan,provided an enthusiastic demonstration of a wide variety of Ikenobo arrangements of both classic and contemporary designs. On the occasion of Founder’s Day Program of our chapter on September 15, 2023, the Professor’s arrangements were described as beautiful, open and airy, and his ability to teach as he arranged was appreciated by the audience.
To begin his demonstration, Professor Nakamura highlighted an extremely large classical [shofutai] rikka he had arranged in advance using an impressive pine branch as the backdrop for the arrangement which include 14 types of materials to represent a mountain landscape.
The first arrangement was a rikka shofutai, using nine materials. The shin was birds of paradise and iris leaves were among the most prominent. The second arrangement was an ishuike [one material] classic shoka shofutai using a blooming forsythia in a tall simple blue-grey container.
Next was a shoka sanshuike – three materials which “must harmonize.” It was arranged in a pale green bowl-shaped container with birds of paradise, Japanese iris and small purple cock’s combs. A freestyle [jiyuka] arrangement was created in a large flat round glass container. Wires were twisted into free forms “to use as an accent.” The flowers, white and pink dahlias, were the main material. The next arrangement was a modern rikka – a shimputai rikka. A black container with a wide top and a narrow base featured a huge hosta leaf that had begun to turn brown. The hosta stood tall with delicate crocosmia just below. This arrangement using eleven materials represented the changing seasons. A heavily trimmed hemlock branch reached to the side. A tall piece of bark was a prominent feature.
A shoka shimputai in a large black bowl was formed by a delicate stem of bamboo, the pale green maple below and small lavender clematis flowers, leaves and buds low in front. “Ikenobo loves buds.” The final arrangement covered the entire table. Two long boat shaped containers, black behind and to the left and white in front were filled with a variety of flowers kept low. Numerous stems of fountain grass stood vertically above with a few unusual allium flowers at mid-level.
The audience seemed entranced with Professor Nakamura’s designs, expertise, and his ability to create such varied and beautiful arrangements using many materials from Arlene Evans, a Chapter member’s garden.
