Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. From its origins in Kyoto more than a millenia ago, this is an art form that has evolved within a formal tradition of considerable restraints.

Recently, in Kyoto, along with a friend I took a lesson in traditional ikebana.

I make no claims of ikebana mastery. Nor am I interested in ikebana flower arrangement along purely formal and traditional lines (although there are periodic attempts to loosen ikebana from its strict classical framework; see, for example, Punk Ikebana: Reimagining the Art of Floral Design).

But no knowledge is wasted. It’s great to add a whole new set of tools and techniques to my flower-arranging arsenal!

This arrangement (above) shows making use of some of the ikebana tools in a somewhat unconventional way.

The iPhone photo (below) shows me at the ikebana class in Kyoto posing with my work-in-progress arrangement.