HOSTING IKENOBO IKEBANA DEMONSTRATION BY PUNE CHAPTER

Chennai Sogetsu Branch hosts demonstration by Ikenobo Ikebana Society Pune Chapter 

To promote understanding of the origins of Ikenobo Ikebana and its classical style among its branch members the Sogetsu Chennai Branch under the leadership of Riji Mrs Malathi Pandurang hosted a zoom presentation cum demonstration session on July 15, 2023 at 3 pm IST

The intention was to learn and understand a different school of Ikebana and establish a connect with members of the Pune Chapter.

The online session was conducted by Mrs Sujatha Pandit, President of Pune Chapter and Mrs Arundhati Despande Vice President , both students of the late Shailaja Divekar who established the Pune Chapter in 1995. The Pune Chapter under their leadership is focussed on teaching and bringing awareness to traditional Ikenobo Ikebana.

The online session commenced with Sensei Meenakshi Sarin welcoming the invitees and demonstrators. Riji Mrs Malathi Pandurang, Director Sogetsu Chennai Branch introduced the President and Vice President of Ikenobo Pune Chapter.

The presentation by Ms Sujatha and Ms Arundhati emphasised on the spiritual origins of Ikenobo  which came into being in 16th century in the Rokakudo temple Kyoto, Japan as a result of  Senkie's (a Buddhist priest )offering of flowers as worship in an artistic manner. This later developed into an evolved art form with the current Sensei as the forty fifth  headmaster of Ikenobo school.

The viewers were treated to a stunning display of traditional Rikka Shofutai arrangements constructed with pine branches to represent mountain landscape with Isshiki ( one material) in a single vase. This was followed by  Rikka  Shimputai ( modern Rikka ) using  multiple material emphasising movement of plants .  Modern( evolved style)  Ikenobo highlighted contrasts of line and mass, big and small,  long and short using  single and multiple materials.

The Shoka style with three yakueda ( main parts ) arising from the mizugiwa and communicating with each other were indeed beautiful to behold.

We were able to appreciate the Mizugiwa part of the bottom of a classical arrangement relating it to a natural tree form and the structures depicting various angles and lengths of its different parts 

Popular arrangement style such as  Rikka, Shoka, Nagiere,  free style and miniatures arrangements were covered in the presentation with detailed  explanation.

Different types of holders, traditional vases and their purpose was explained. 

The presentation was followed by a demonstration by members of Pune Chapter

Mrs Sujatha Pandit demonstarted a  traditional Shoka  arrangement with 3 materials followed by a Moribana slanting arrangement.

Arundhati Deshpande crafted a Shoka Shimputai ( modern Shoka ) with constructing material. Helicon leaves contrasted with dried and green grass and Duranta flowers.

She followed it with a free style arrangement in a Japanese vase using ferns, orchids, some branches and baby’s breadth.

Saroj Nagpure demonstrated a freestyle arrangement with white plastic rings in two levels highlighting mass and curved line and somes miniature arrangements; the arrangement on a trolley was eye catching. 

Sujata Karmakar  showed some quaint miniatures followed by free style demo with interesting Japanese containers.

A Rikka Shimkutai arrangement was shown with 2 materials  by Sujata Pandit who also demonstrated  the intricate technique to get a perfect bend on a branch.

The importance of the position of the plant material and angle of bend was evident.

All of us throughly enjoyed the  captivating presentation and demonstration of various styles of ikenobo  from traditional to free style. Mr Ranganathan from ABK also joined us.

Riji Mrs Malathi Pandurang expressed her deep thanks for the efforts put in by the team. Vote of thanks given by Sensei Molly Cherian highlighted the salient aspects of the demonstration and appreciated the efforts put in by demonstrators and organisers.

It was indeed a memorable show for the audience. Learning to appreciate the commonalities and differences between the Ikenobo and Sogetsu styles will help us become openminded Ikebana artists knowing that nature is the inspiration for all forms of Ikebana.