“Flowery horse cart in rainy season”
Today, let’s hear from Hiroyo Yahiro, 69, from Chikushino city, Fukuoka Prefecture, about how she enjoys Noh no Ikebana
“I got to know about Noh no Ikebana in 1999 through my friend. In 2007, the Women’s Group of JA Chikushi, an agricultural cooperative in Fukuoka Prefecture, decided to have a local Noh no Ikebana group, which is now run by seven members to present arrangements mainly for JA events and meetings, maybe eight times a year.
With my arrangement, I always treasure the season we are in now. I do so by using agricultural products, plants and flowers of the season and focusing on seasonal events like a girls’ festival and rice planting in spring and full a moon viewing party in autumn.
This is the arrangement we did for a general meeting of JA Chikushi at the end of June this year. Its theme is “Flowery horse cart in rainy season.” This impressive piece of work was done by combining large wheels that weight 50 kilograms each and a big sake barrel and featuring hydrangea, or ajisai in Japanese, as they are one of the most loved motifs of the rainy season in Japan. Our members brought summer vegetables and plums they grew to express the transition of the seasons from late spring to early summer.
＜Containers and tools＞ wheels of horse carts, a sake barrel, ittomasu (wooden bucket to measure rice), a rice basket, large bamboo baskets, etc.
＜Materials＞ hydrangea (ajisai), carrot flowers, garlic flowers, purple lythrum (misohagi), plums, zucchinis, tomatoes, jumbo garlic, etc.