Winter suddenly arrived in Tokyo.
Evening in Ikebukuro
Tokyo is dressed in Christmas lights everywhere. There’re special light shows at Omotesando, Caretta Shiodome, Roppongi Hills and many more.
I’ll try to make better photos next time.
The winds are strong and chilly. My little apartment warms only while I run heating. It’s getting dark at 4.30 and days suddenly became short.
People dressed in warmer coats with printed and checked scarves over the top. But trendy girls still wear high hills and light beige pantyhose: very sexy.
Faux fure is in: coats, trims on pockets, sleeves and shoes, even bags made out of fur.
It’s time for hot Ramen or Udon. If you’re interested to know more about Ramen look here
For Udon look here
I stopped at a tiny eatery, maybe for 10 people capacity as I caught a sign that chef has a Michelin star. Can you imagine, Mechlin star for Ramen. It was amazing, I can’t describe the taste, the texture and of course, the presentation.
A complete nurturing meal for around $18.
Michelin Star Ramen
Last week I participated in one -day workshop: Arranging from Behind.
The workshop was run by Master Instructor Ms Seiko Ozawa.
Time: 10.30 am-4.00 pm
It was a group of more than 40 people. It definitely wasn’t what I expected.
We were handed paper, template, 3 cut out shapes (squire, circle and triangle), pencil, and a copy of Seiko san’s drawing (kakei-zu).
Luckily, I had a simultaneous personal interpreter Yoko Hoshino who is a wonderful ikebanist herself.
The first half of the day we were drawing kakei zu regular size for Basic Upright Maribana, just for 3 major branches: Shin, Soe and Hikai demonstrated by Seiko san.
It was more complicated than I expected. I drew kenzan position on my diagram a bit too central and had problems all along. Also, I couldn’t understand why and what for we do it. We all made our own diagram-kakei-zu.
Then we all had lunch with Mugicha tea-Barley tea from a bento box.
After the break, we had to put 3 major branches in Basic upright Moribana according to our diagram, and marking with cut-out shapes the positions of shin, Soe and Hikai on the table from the back. We could check it from the front but correct, if needed, from the back.
Everyone had the same material: maki (Japanese yew) and roses.
Container: round suiban
Suddenly I understood the base of the basic style: the perfection of the shape, the alignment of the angles. I mentioned earlier that the basics I was taught a bit different to what I saw at school. It’s a perfection of the length of the materials and the perfection of the angles. It all falls together.
Master checked each work, corrected and then we could finish it with 2 subordinate flowers, jushi and subordinate branch at the back.
Seiko san went around correcting each of forty plus arrangements. She emphasized the importance of covering kenzan and front rim of the suiban. Placing of subordinate roses was up to the arranger as long as they were shorter than Hikai and different in length. Back or front flower could be shorter or longer. After her corrections, we could turn our suiban to see its front. They all were different. Same material, same style, and same technique- still each ikebana was different reflecting our personalities.
Seiko Ozawa stressed that this is a unique and original for Sogetsu to demonstrate basic styles from the back. It’s much easier to demonstrate Free Style from the back. We all know it.
This workshop gave me a lot to think about.
The 1st lesson in my class will be Basic Upright Moribana , I hope it’ll give a new perspective to my students.
Autumn Wind by Lara Telford