Demonstration of Floristry Art - Ikebana Ikenobo by Thai Thomas Mai Van - France at DIFFFLOWERS

Hello everybody, I'm Kai Thomas Mai Van, Ikenobo Ikebana teacher in France and Vietnam. So you know Ikebana, that means Japanese flower art, and Ikenobo, that means the origin of Ikebana, because the school Ikenobo was created in 15th century, and today the school still exists in Kyoto with more than 550 years old. And you know, what is Ikebana? In fact, Ikebana does have floral Japanese, that means to arrange flower, but philosophy, Ikebana, that means the beauty of life, because you see, when we arrange flower in Ikebana, each flower is life. For example, when we arrange Ikebana, not only the technique, but the artist must have a good knowledge of this flower, how they grow in the nature, and also especially, we see this flower, we have to understand how they grow in the garden, in the nature. For example, also according to the Asian philosophy, yin yang, for example, this flower means the sunlight, and this one, yin, that means in the shadow, and in the arrangement, we have to show sunlight, because that's the most beauty of flower, and the artist will love flower, but we respect their life, and we try to show their utmost beauty in the arrangement, and that's Ikebana. And you see, at the beginning, from 15th century to 18th century, Ikebana was arranged only by the monk to offer Buddha and the samurai, and only the noble family can enjoy and arrange Ikebana. And why samurai arrange Ikebana? Because they are military. Because the samurai discover by arrange flower in Ikebana, we learn the flower, we learn the law of nature. The beauty of flower inspire to create beauty for life, but also to teach us about the law of nature. So that's why, also, we always think about the beauty, so we have a positive mind. That's why samurai practice Ikebana. And now Ikebana became popular, and all people can enjoy Ikebana, you see. And today, I would like to show you how to arrange a style, a formal style of Ikenobo school. So you can see Ikebana, we can use, you see, many materials, for example, tea, flower, leaves, or grass, something like that. And if the traditional Ikebana, there is a rule, we can, for example, we have to arrange flower with the same climate. For example, only cone flower or tree together, or only tropical flower together. But today, you see, Ikebana also developed for life, for decoration, and also, you see, traditional, the bouquet was displayed in Tokonoma, that means traditional architect house in Japan. But now we can display the bouquet in the lobby, in the reception, or at home, so the style is more contemporary. And also, we have more freedom to enjoy and to arrange flower together. And you see, when I go to select the flower, I was impressed with this leaf, and imagine that I was walking in the tropical jungle. So I decided to use it as the main flower, main material for my arrangement. And also, you see, I love Japanese flowers like magnolia, you see, so I use together. So also, according to the Asian philosophy, Yin-Yang, that means powerful, powerful, and this, you see, more light. So to give the contrast but harmony, just like in the, according to Yin-Yang, every element in the universe composed of Yin-Yang, contrast but harmony, so we cannot separate it, you see. And only, for example, if only magnolia is beautiful, but with this leaf, that's how to bring out the beauty of magnolia, you see. And then, the branches, spherule, this was very nice movement for the arrangement. And also, this one, how to bring out the beauty of magnolia, because they have only the flower. Also, you see, at the beginning, in both, then they open, but no leaf. And so I also, with spherule, to give the movement, just also, you know, that this gives movement, just like there is the wind when we arrange, so we can feel there's the wind, thanks to the movement of spherule. And then also, you see, Khe Zong Tam, just so beautiful, so I would like to use, that's all the flower, principal for the arrangement. But the interesting thing, for example, if the style of 15th century, I cannot arrange this flower with monstera, because monstera is the tropical flower or botanic. This one, cold climate. But now, I can arrange together, just because for life, we have more freedom to arrange flower in today's Sikhi Bana. And it's important, we use the Kenzan. You see, from 15th century to at the end of 18th century, it's very difficult to arrange rika, because at that time, we don't have wine, we don't have Kenzan, so they use, you see, a bunch of grass to put like this, to insert the stem inside, so difficult. And from 19th century, they can produce Kenzan, so that's a revolution in Sikhi Bana. So that's how to arrange flower. And thanks to that, we insert in the Kenzan, and you see, flower can still drink water to live. And also, because the leaves are too big, so I use this to give the balance. If not, they will fall down. And this, in fact, we need many energies to focus, because it's very hard to insert the stem in the Kenzan. You can see, I concentrate, use all my energy to insert the stem. So you see, when we arrange flower, we also pay attention to the position, that means the sunlight of flower. Magnolia, for example, when I arrange, you see, we cannot arrange like this. Even we like the movement, but we think about, you see, this position, because imagine in the magnolia tree, the plants grow like that. Because thanks to this movement, so we see, this is the sunlight, and this is shadow. So the position, they work naturally in the nature like this. So we have to follow the movement of the nature, so I have to arrange this position. Even I like this position, because it's curved, but I cannot do, because I cannot do something unnaturally. And so you see, when I add this spheria, that's interesting, because we can find all the elements in the nature, like plants, tropical leaves, magnolia flowers, and especially this helps to give depth and also to guide the view. That means we look to give depth and also the movement for the arrangement. Also, like I explained to you, because the face of Chrysanthemum is so beautiful, so we can arrange like this to see the beautiful face, but no, we have to arrange like this. So we see, and that's why in Ikebana we say that's dynamic, because the movement, even we see this side, you know, but that's the nature. So they put like this, and this one, we say that we express the sunlight of the flower in the arrangement. So I follow the position, just like this. And this one, we think that this Chrysanthemum communicates with this leaf, the Monsteria. You see also, later I will explain to you why I arrange some branches 45 degrees or with the angle of 90 degrees. And you see, because that's the style of Ikebana we arrange. That means big space, big space between the stems in the air, but at the base of the vase, the Chrysanthemum must be concentrated. I will explain when I finish. But you see, and people ask, how can we bend 90 degrees and how can they leave? You know, some friends, they can leave for two weeks, or three, it depends on the flower. And that means that we use wires, but we have to curve, and you see that when we bend the stem in Ikebana, that means we can feel how we can stop. Or, you know, for example, we bend naturally, naturally, and then we can stop. If we continue, they will break down, so they will break, so the stem, the flower will die. So that's why, and in Ikebana, this we call Kado, that means meditation. That means we have to concentrate. So sometimes it takes one hour, two hours to bend one branch. It depends, you see, and that's why Ikebana, so that means we love flowers, but we arrange and also we reproduce the nature. So you can see, if you can see the side view, we have very big depth, you see? And also, now, the front side of the arrangement. So you can see this, when we see this leaf of Monsteria, just like the principal actor in the theater. And then with the Magnolia, and especially, we arrange, you can see that big space in the air, but all concentrate at the base, this Mizugiwa. That means that, just like the image, the symbol of the concentration of energy, and this, the vase, means the life source. And we imagine that's a big tree, and on the sunlight, the plant is bigger, and on the shadow, the plant is smaller. And this, just like the bottom of the tree, and the vase, just from this Kenzan, we seem just like the soil, the earth, the soil, you see? And that's it, so that's why the vase must be harmonious with the style. We cannot change other vases. So this must be harmonious, and when we look at the arrangement, you see that's suitable for the contemporary display in the home or reception, for example. And especially interesting to look at the Mizugiwa, so that we can see concentration and energy, and explode in the air. So if you have any questions, you see, you are welcome to ask. What's the name of the creation? Ah yes, that's the name, Contemporary Rika. The style was developed by the headmaster of Ikenobo school in 1999. He's based on the history of Ikenobo from five centuries, and he developed this style so that people around the world can arrange Rika. Because some traditional Rika, only in Japan we can find flowers to arrange. In Europe, or in Asia, in tropical countries, we cannot arrange because of the code, you know? For example, we cannot arrange something like the orchid with Japanese maple, because Japanese maple is a cold climate, and orchid is hot, tropical. But now, so that's why he developed this style, so that all people can enjoy Ikebana, and we can use the material more freely. Any flowers you cannot use are not allowed, correct? In fact, you know, it depends also. For example, in modern style, there is no limit. We can associate all the flowers, but of course, leaving flowers. For example, we cannot use artificial flowers, because that's not right. For example, some people ask me, OK, I like that style, but I would like to use silk flowers. No, it's not Ikebana. Because we have to use living flowers, fresh flowers. Is it possible to do Ikebana with energy lateral? Does it exist? Yes, you can see, that's why this is powerful. With this lip, you can see, powerful, you see? And that's why I'm so happy with that. When I go to select the flowers, oh, I got that. And I'm so happy, because I've never seen that lip before. Sometimes in front, I buy big like this, but never seen like this. So you can see, that gives powerful energy. And so this is just like we imagine that. And of course, that helps to create a space for decoration. Modern style, we are allowed to use that. Some styles in the 17th century, 18th century, we are not allowed to do so. All natural, but this is modern style. Thank you, Thay.