Dave Lowry: To Blossom and Scatter...
Like the martial Ways, the Way of flowers, called kado
or more commonly, ikebana, has its origins in Japan's
classical, medieval age. During that period, which began
in the early 14th century, the various forms of arranging
flowers were codified, formalized, and collected into coherent
styles by ryu or "inherited traditions" devoted
to them. This is a process of preserving and passing
on an art that is, of course, familiar to the budoka.
Ryu exist for the combative arts of the warrior as well
as for every other kind of art or skill you can imagine,
from calligraphy to etiquette, to cooking, to the
appreciation of incense. Basically, ryu representing
any of these arts consist of specific traditions, cohesive
schools of instruction and maintenance, each with its own
distinct skills, curricula, and lore, transmitted from
teacher to student in a consistent manner. The exponent of
a ryu of swordsmanship, for example, learned to kill with
his weapon by imitating and mastering the kata
("formal exercises"), the predetermined patterns of attack
and counter that were proven effective by earlier
practitioners of the tradition in a process of trial
and error on the battlefield. The member of a ryu of
ikebana learned to create forms with flowers and other
natural materials by emulating lessons expounded in the
"kata" of flower arranging as well.
Ikebana kata--though they are not usually referred to in
that way--were determined by aesthetics of beauty
consonant with native Japanese concepts and with, in many
cases, ancient Taoist sources that postulated certain
geometric configurations as being ideal forms in terms of
art.
Ikebana ryu flourished (and those still intact continue
to do so today) under the guidance of headmasters who
passed on their titles through familial or other close
connexions, exactly as authority has been passed down in
martial ryu. Like the warrior's combative ryu, too, ikebana
schools issued ranks or menkyo that recognized
varying levels of ability and they also licensed teachers
to instruct in their art. Martial ryu and ikebana ryu share
the intriguing convention of the okuden. Literally,
it means "hidden teachings." Okuden are secrets zealously
guarded by the individual ryu and in many cases these
teachings are considered to be the core, the very heart
of the tradition itself. They were transmitted only to
trusted members of the ryu who had proven their worthiness
through long and often arduous training. Some okuden of
ikebana ryu are technical matters. They involve
little secrets or "tricks of the trade" that will make
flowers stay fresh longer or methods that can be employed
to bend stems to the desired shape without breaking them.
But other okuden reveal exquisite insight into nature
and beauty. In the ancient Enshu Ryu of ikebana, one
series of okuden concern the matching of arrangements
exactly to the seasons. If daffodils are arranged in a
container in early April, for instance, an okuden teaches
that the blooms should be bent downward. Why? Because
growing naturally at that time of the year, they would
likely be bent beneath a load of wet spring snow. Still
other ikebana okuden involve combinations of plants or
geometric forms within the arrangements that not only
make the entire creation more perfectly reflective of
nature, like a fraternal organization's secret handshake
or passwords, they serve as signs to other ryu initiates
of the arranger's level of instruction.
It is important to understand that the practitioner of
ikebana no more seeks in his art to make a "pretty
bouquet" than the budoka seeks to learn "self defense."
While both of these are byproducts of the study of these
disciplines, the goal of the budo and of ikebana are
consistent with the goals of all Japanese Do forms.
They are pursued as a Way of life. Self-discipline,
the cultivation of moral energies, and the creation of
aesthetic form: these galvanize the spirit of ikebana as
surely as they do aikido or karate-do or kendo. And so
the various ryu of flower arrangement, correctly pursued,
deserve well the appellation by which their arts are more
properly and collectively known: kado, the "Way of flowers."
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