One of Japan’s foremost master in the Japanese art of flower arrangement gives a lecture and hosts a workshop

Ikenobo

On Saturday 8th of September at 13:00, Yuki Ikenobo, one of Japan’s foremost master in flower arrangement,  will be giving a lecture on Ikenobo, a 550 years old variant of Ikebana which is the ancient Japanese art of arranging flowers in accordance to season.

(www.ikebanabyjunko.co.uk / history.htm).

At 14:00 starts a two-hour-long workshop with Yuki Ikenobo where she will teach the basics of Ikenobo, of which only 20 can apply. Both the lecture and the workshop are free of charge and available due to the generous sponsorship of the Ikenobo Ikebana Society (www.ikenobo.jp / english) and the Japan Foundation (www.jpf.go.jp). Update: The workshop is full but there will be a demonstration at the lecture as well. Registration for the lecture is unnecessary. 

Lecture and workshop are held as a part of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki exhibition at the Reykjavík City Library at Tryggvagata 15. They will be at the same location, but in the hall on the sixth floor at the Reykjavík Museum of Photography.

Yuki Ikenobo is a 46th-generation Ikenobo artist. Her family has for 550 years practiced this art form and is today the Headmaster Designate of the Ikenobo Ikebana Society, which runs about one hundred Ikenobo societies and academic groups around the world. Yuki Ikenobo is also the elected consul of Iceland in Kyoto.

 From the lecturer:

“Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arranging. It is a refined culture that nurtures a gentle spirit responsive to nature, develops self-awareness, and elevates human character. Ikebana is also a spiritual culture. It is said, “In small numbers there is deep meaning.” Rather than flowers in full bloom, Ikebana is a culture of the heart that can appreciate the will to bloom of a single, tiny blossom.In ancient times Japanese people thought that deities resided in all the elements of nature, such as trees or stones. Further, in the 6th century, together with Buddhism, the custom of Buddhist floral offering was introduced into Japan. These two ideas integrated and developed as the display of flowers that has become “Ikebana.” Ikebana has come to be appreciated today by people around the world.