HANAKORYU

IKEBANA EXHIBITION

March 31- April 1, 2017
Opening Reception: Friday March 31, 6-8 PM

Hanakoryu originated from the classical style of Seika in mid Edo era (1760 ' s) and it now has a variety of Ikebana styles including Moribana, Nageire, and Gendaibana. Seika is based on the three core elements of the universe: Ten ? (heaven), Chi ? (earth) and Jin ? (human beings). Plain branches (e.g. Hiba, Kyara) are arranged into beautiful curves with the style of Seika, which is also known as the Golden Rule. Moribana and Nageire are collectively called as Jiyuka. One of the characteristics of Jiyuka is that the plants are arranged so that it reflects how plants are like naturally, with just a little bit of artistic touches. Today, however, Jiyuka incorporates new trends influenced by foreign flowers and various type of vases.

Hanakoryu is one of Ikebana schools that originates from Koryu. All Koryu schools uses Seika style. Seika features to suit with a traditional Japanese room. It arranges curved plants to have a beautiful single trunk at water’ s edge. It may only use branches and leaves without flowers, which is a reflection of Japanese way of thinking to admire all kinds of plants as flowers. Some says that the word “Ikebana” , which represents the entire Japanese flower arrangements, comes from Seika style that was popular in Edo era. (Note that Ikebana(???)and Seika(??) use same Chinese characters.) Seika became popular as a culture among ordinally citizens given there was no war for about 260 years during Edo era. Today, free and modern styles are popular for Ikebana, but we would also like to treasure classic Seika style to preserve traditional culture.