Japanese Flower Arrangement in Los
Angeles
June 2014
By rick beal
This past weekend the JACCC (Japanese American Cultural
Community Center), in Downtown Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo District, had a
Japanese Flower Arrangement exhibit. The exhibit itself was not an official
JACCC event, but rather the annual display of arrangements by the teachers of
The Ikenobo Ikebana Society of America.
For this particular event the head instructor from the U.S.
Headquarters flew down from San Francisco. Each year the event is held at a
gallery near one of the area’s ikebana classes. Last year was in Torrance
California, and this year at the JACCC. There are classes across the country
with many Pacific Coast opportunities to view and participate in the art of
flower arrangement.
Japanese flower arrangement is famous worldwide for its
beautiful displays. ‘Ikebana’ literally translates from Japanese to English as ‘living
flowers’. The Ikenobo school is not only one of the 5 main styles of Japanese
Flower Arrangement, it was the first school of what we now call Ikebana.
Ikebana comes from the practice of offering flowers on the altars in temples
and homes, and has evolved to include decorations for both homes and public
places that bring a sense of the sacred to any space.
This annual event by the local chapters of the Ikenobo
Ikebana Society of America is unique in that all the displays are from the
regions teachers, rather than just one from a teacher and the rest from their
students as we often see. So much so, that to offer pictures of all of them
would be fantastic, instead we can only offer a few examples. But each and
everyone shows a sensitivity to nature and the materials being used. If you
enjoy these please look for a class or exhibit near you.
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