The introduction of this floral art called Ikebana is based on the adoption of Buddhist faith of placing flowers before the Buddhist spirits and also as a pious past time for the priests. Another fascinating fact is the firs teachers of ikebana in Japan are the Chinese in the sixth century.
Initial flower compositions were quite primeval in nature and kept getting modified as time went by. A more structured form of floral art evolved to add more meaning to the tea ceremony during the time of Prince Regent Yoshimasa. The arrangement of flowers have always been regarded as an occupation for the learned, aristocrat and and nobility.
The habitual art of ikebana practice endows the practitioner with certain virtues like creativity, gentleness, selflessness etc.
The male and female forms of the Chinese philosophy are constantly applied to distinguish contrasting forms, surfaces and other different characters in composition when they are paired or grouped. The more aggressive feature in comparison is referred as the male and the subtle or less of a contrast is called a female. Interestingly in the western art such comparisons are made for architecture.
This art has evolved by different styles introduced by different schools to a very modern form that exists today.
Courtesy and adaptation from "The flowers of Japan and the art of floral arrangements" by Conder.J.Josiah
about ikebana
