Ikebana and us

Our April meeting was held on the 5 Th of April 2025 at ABK with 14 members in attendance. Our Chairperson Mrs Malathi Pandurang introduced Mrs Sujata Saravanan , consultant and therapist at Krishnamachari Yoga Mandiram to speak to us on Health and Physical fitness in Mindful wellness. Mrs Sujata Saravanan stressed on the benefits of meditation in our lives. After the meeting some of our members got together at a restaurant for a happy meal. Five of our members including our Chairperson attended the Ikebana internationa convention in Kyoto. Our members Mrs Molly Cherian, Mrs Bhuvana Sivashankaran and Mrs Chelvi Gopinath attended a workshop  at the Sogetsu  HQ in Tokyo.

Iemoto Akane arranged flowers for the G8 Hokkaido Toyako summit. Read about her experiences, by clicking Akane Teshigahara's A bunch of thoughts Nice pictures as well. She also created an outdoor bamboo installation with members of the Hokkaido branch.

March 12th 2007: After the grand 80th anniversary Sogetsu demonstration and the celebratory dinner of the previous day, we get ready to attend an international students workshop at the School.  Our hotel, Marroad Inn Akasaka was well located within walking distance of Sogetsu, and so off we went early in the morning, with an air of anticipation! It was a beautiful morning, and we made good time, and arrived at the building even before it opened! The impressive glass-fronted Sogetsu building!  So we wandered the streets for a little while.  And found the "old" tucked in with the "new".  All over Tokyo, there will be these little old homes or shrines you will come across, if you walk the streets. There is a little road-corner park next to the school and we spied this first camelia bloom, in the otherwise, end-of-winter and brown scene.  Spring was just around the corner. Another peculiarity - streets filled with commuters with their noses covered.  How consci...

A lot of you have started visiting this blog recently.  I do not know how many of you know that there are short amateur video clips of Iemoto Akane's 80th Anniversary demonstration on this blog. So, I am providing the link again.  I have corrected some uploading errors in the youtube clips. Click here  to revisit the demonstration!  Happy viewing!

When I am caught up with my day-to-day life, trying to be practical, rational and maximising my time, all I need is an exposure to the Japanese to suddenly bring me into the world of aesthetics. It never fails, happens all the time. Whether it is seeing them work in an Ikebana class, decorating their food or giving a gift. I am left feeling clumsy and uncouth and bumbling (add to this the fact that I'm almost twice their size!) When they attend a class, they will work in such a way that there will hardly be any mess around. Whereas I will litter the place around me, and then clean up! The dish they use to serve their food, the way they present it is as important as the food itself. I would just clunk the food down in the first dish I can lay my hands on. They will give a gift in a wrapper which is so beautiful that you dont feel like opening the present! Ikebana has definitely improved my sensitivity to and appreciation of aesthetics. I really look forward to the monthly workshops...

Spring First, the demonstration started with Iemoto Akane doing an Ikebana composition on one side of the stage. Take a look at the amateur video below, to see how she worked. No music, just silence for this prelude. And the oncidium used in the exhibit stood out, in my opinion. In the diagonally opposite corner, she did another arrangement with huge hydrangeas and glory lilies. The vase for this piece was outstanding, and was her own creation. All this was carried out in silence. Suddenly, a parchment covering the entire floor of the arena almost, appeared, and there was Akane, creating a lovely calligraphy, which read "Flower is Heart" - we were told, by the announcer Summer Then the stage was cleared, and we were thrown into pitch dark silence. Then came some haunting chanting as the musicians of Yaz Kaz (http://www.yas-kaz.com/en.htm) along with some drummers from Senegal took to the stage! This was a really dramatic portion of the whole performance. Take a ...

The year 2007 has been celebrated all over India as the 50th year of Indo-Japan friendship. In Chennai also, ABK-AOTS Dosokai have sponsored several exhibitions and cultural events to mark the occasion. As part of the celebrations, we had two Ikebana exhibitions as well in the city. As an Ikebana teacher myself, I was doubly delighted that this year was also the 80th anniversary year for the Sogetsu school of Ikebana. It was with much anticipation that I decided to attend the show in Tokyo, titled “Blooming Flowers For Tomorrow.” Having started in the Buddhist temples as an offering of flowers, Ikebana emphasizes “livingness” or Ikeru. It stands apart from other floral decorations, by its emphasis of the display of Line, the use of asymmetry, and other art concepts like texture, rhythm, form and colour. The Sogetsu school has been arguably the most important school in spreading global awareness about the ancient floral art of Ikebana, moving it from its original spiritual roots to ...