What Is Nageire? | The Ikebana Style Closest to Home — “Thrown-In” Flowers That Are Never Really Thrown
Slip a single stem into a slender bottle, and you’re already close to nage…
How to Look at Rikka: Start with the Shin | A Beginner’s Guide to Ikebana’s Oldest Style
A rikka arrangement, packed with branches and flowers, can be hard to read. Star…
Ikebana Vessels for Beginners | Placed, Hung or Suspended — How the Vase Shapes the Flowers
In ikebana, it’s the vessel that quietly decides how a flower stands. A ge…
Why Don’t Ikebana Flowers Fall Over? | Kenzan, Straw and Turtle-Shaped Holders — The Hidden Tools Beneath the Water
Flowers don’t stand up on their own. Inside every ikebana vessel is a hidd…
What’s the Difference Between Ikebana Schools? | Ikenobo, Ohara and Sogetsu, Explained Gently for Beginners
Look into taking up ikebana and you stall almost at once: there are too many sch…
The Seven Flowers of Autumn | Japan’s Seven Herbs You Don’t Eat, Explained Gently for Beginners
Japan’s spring seven go into rice porridge. The autumn seven have one job:…
What Are Bonbana? | The Meaning of Misohagi and Hōzuki, Japan’s Obon Flowers, Explained Simply for Beginners
The flowers offered during Obon to welcome the ancestors home have their own nam…
What is Ikebana? The Japanese Art of Flower Arrangement and Aesthetic Philosophy
What does it truly mean to arrange flowers? Ikebana is not simply about decorati…