15th March Iemoto's Class

Today’s teacher was Shinobu Okazaki san from Toyama, whose approach to ikebana was very sensitive and was a delight to watch demonstrate.

As usual there are two themes set Variation#1 Slanting and the other To be Viewed from Below. Again I choose to follow the themes to absorb as much information as possible because every teacher has a new approach or explanation for the material, angles, tips etc in the arrangement they are demonstrating. For example on Variation #1 Slanting, Okazaki san stated the Shin and Soe is more than just one thin branch they have some volume and the openness displays the material. Someone also made the comment that the Jushi out the back for depth should be placed behind the Shin. My version of Book 1 Lesson 13 Variation #1 was correct displaying the openness of the arrangement. I used Mountain Ash and Ranunculus for the first, interesting material and the stem are relative brittle.

The afternoon class was To be Viewed from Below. Tables set up high I selected a low circular container with two holes. The material I selected was Dogwood (of which there are up to 60 different varieties) and small green Goddess lilies, what they call Calla lilies here. The material needed a lot of bending to create a cascading effort but the hard work paid off. When creating this arrangement don’t forget to pay attention to the sides otherwise it looks very bare and about to fall from its placement. My work was extremely difficult to photograph so a sketch will have to surfice