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 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.
"The colors bloom and scatter. In this world,
who lasts forever?"
--the Lotus sutra
To find analogies between the budo and kado doesn't require much digging.
Sussho, a term from ikebana, refers to the most natural
form of a flower or plant and it is this the arranger attempts to capture
in his floral compositions. The budo sensei has much the same regard for
sussho in the dojo, where he looks for it in his students. He sees it in
them, in their own, uniquely individual natures, and it is this sussho that
he must bring out in each person as that person progresses in the art.
In and yo (better known by the original Chinese
terminology of yin and yang) are qualities of every good ikebana
arrangement. One stem or branch or bloom will dominate while another will
recede. Precisely the same sense of in and yo merge and emerge in many budo
waza like punching, where one side of the body extends while the
other contracts, There sin ikebana as well as in the martial Ways, a struggle
for unity and harmony of elements, for the interplay of hard and soft, for
a moment of spontaneous creation based upon the foundation of a fixed form.
(A 90-odd year-old master of iaido demonstrates the in and yo qualities
of his martial Way. Photo by Wayne Muromoto.)
Interestingly, many of the same problems afflicting the budo today--abuse
of power by teachers, petty political squabbling, the manipulation of the
ranking system and the failure of practitioners to comprehend the ethos
of the Do--are exactly the same problems faced in the world of ikebana.
Chat with a kadoka sometime and you will be amazed how much you, as a budoka,
have in common with him or her.
Analogies, yes. But what is the importance of ikebana in the dojo? The
author Nishitani Kenji, in his book, Kaze no Kokoro ("Spirit
of the Wind"), has explained it well, I think. The flower of ikebana,
he said is "in the world of death, poised in death. It has become severed
from the life which denies time and in doing so it had entered time and
become momentary." While "ikebana" means literally, "living
blossoms," paradoxically, the materials used for flower arranging are
not "living" at all, of course.
They are, as Nishitani notes, dead. They have been deliberately cut
from the roots that nourished them and gave them life. Left alone in nature,
their demise would scarcely have been noticed. Fading away in the garden
outside, we are barely aware of their passing from our busy world. Once
they are cut, the flowers do not wither slowly; their death is rendered
imminent. It is the beauty of a master's flower arrangement that we appreciate,
certainly. Yet their poignance is found in the ephemerality that has, through
their arrangement, been brought to our attention. We pause at the beauty
of ikebana. We linger at the thought of the impermanence it represents.
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