Chennai: It was a parade of beautiful flowers and leaves that made the select audience spellbound at the Ikebana show – flower arrangement – organised by the Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry here this morning.
The two-day exhibition was inaugurated by the Consul-General of Japan in Chennai, Kojiro Uchiyama and his wife.
Cherry Venkatesan, Ikebana master in Chennai, runs the Sakura School of Ikeban and teaches the art for Chennaiites. It was her students who had participated in the exhibition.
Says Cherry, “Beginners are first taught how to sensitise their eyes to the materials to be able to bring about their inner qualities and understand how this changes with each flower arrangement.”
Ikebana is a 600-year-old sacred art of the Japanese way of flower arrangement. Blossoms, branches, leaves and stems are used as materials in the art. The arrangement can be made from a single flower to several different flowers, branches and other natural objects, says a press release.
In Japanese culture, most native flowers, plants and trees are embedded with symbolic meaning and are associated with certain seasons. So, some of the most commonly used elements in Ikebana are bamboo grass year round; pine and Japanese plum branches around New Year; peach branches for Girls Days in March; narcissus and Japanese iris in the spring; cow lily in summer; and chrysanthemum in autumn, adds the release.
(Videos A R Jayakumar)