“The Birth of the Bamboo Shoot”
“I began learning ikebana in my twenties. Since then, it’s my hobby. I’m a farmer, so I use wildflowers, green items from the mountains as well as agricultural products and tools. I put my arrangements at the entrance to welcome my guests. Or I sometimes have them displayed at the local festivals.
When I make an arrangement, I start by thinking about a story. I enjoy the most when I’m thinking about tools and flowers, places, and themes. Making notes and drawings is also helpful in creating an arrangement which is close to your image.
I always place importance on “subtracting.” I try to hold my temptation to show all of the flowers I have and stop myself when I feel “it may be better to add one more piece.”
The theme of this arrangement is “The Birth of the Bamboo Shoot.” I used an early season bamboo shoot to express my happiness to meet them again this year. The bamboo shoot sits in a wooden tub for the first bath of newborn babies. In this arrangement, small white flowers of Japanese andromeda are bubbles, and red flowers of rhododendron obtusum are the joy I find in the birth of a new life and celebrations.
<Containers and tools> Samba oke (a wooden tub for the first bath of newborn babies) and obi (a sash for kimono)
<Materials> A bamboo shoot, Japanese andromeda, rhododendron obtusum, etc.