Ikebana~Japanese Flower Arranging with Yoko Sensei: April 2

I am so excited today to meet Yoko~san for my first lesson in Ikebana.  Yoko san is a certified sensei for teaching this wonderful art called Ikebana.
Teresa and I are on our way to pick up Valarie and Kensho.  The ladies told me Yoko san lives in a place they all call Beverly Hills of Japan.  When we arrived to her house I now know why they call it this. :-)  The surroundings the homes are located in is in a very well kept neighborhood with all the houses about equal in comparison.

Mioko was already there for Ikebana class and greeted us with her usual beautiful smile.  When we walked in and took off our shoes I was  astonished over the beautiful hand painting she has done on many things.

I am admiring her beautiful house looking at all of her hand painted items.  I am really liking her wine rack she made with lighting behind the bottles.  She used LED lights so they don't get hot and destroy the bottled wine.    I really, really, want to do this when I get home.

Yoko~ Ikebana sensei is starting to give us instructions on how many flowers we get of each kind and how to start  our Ikebana.  Ikebana focuses on a triangular formation, with three predominate flowers symbolizing heaven, earth and humankind.  We are all listening carefully to her as we want to follow her instructions. We were given choices of using baskets or boxes for our Ikebana.  We all chose the baskets.

 Together we all go out on the deck where the baskets are sitting waiting on us to fill them with beautiful flowers.  We are all so proud of our Ikebana's as I watched everyone work to place their flowers just right everyone was so engrossed in what they were doing.  Not much talking if any and you could tell they were thinking hard on where to put the next flower they had in their hand.

 Yoko san if giving my Ikebana a little help, I want it to look beautiful as I am giving to my host family Kozue and Susumo. :-)

 In Japan their culture tries not to throw anything away even the stems we cut off to shorten our flowers.  She used a part of a stem and put on the inside of a leaf or support. What a creative idea.

Well we have cleaned up our area and are proudly displaying our beautiful Ikebana's.

Gift for my host family looks great.  Forgot to mention if you look close you will notice that I have Easter egg in my Ikebana. :-)

 We are now taking our Ikebana's inside and Yoko san has invited us all to stay for coffee and cake.  All of our Ikebana's look so beautiful, a big thank you to Yoko san for having us in her home to teach us how to make this great Japanese tradition.  The smell of flowers is all through the house now wow loving it.

Coffee and this wonderful cake like treat filled with vanilla pudding and whipped cream.  I have never tasted anything as good as this.  It's not to sweet or rich tasting.  YUMMO We each got to go to the china cabinet and pick out a cup and saucer to use for our coffee.  What a talented person Yoko sun is her art on everything is just so well done.

 We sat for a while and talked and then decided where we were going to eat lunch.  We ended up at a Chinese restaurant.  The place looked very new and the food was excellent.

How to do a Japanese Flower Arrangement


Simple Ikebana Design

1.  Place a floral frog (a spiked holder for cut flowers) in a shallow bowl, tray or pot, near one edge of the container. Use a bowl with very simple lines, preferably one with no designs or ornamentation. Fill the bowl halfway with water.

2.  Place your longest branch or flowers near the top center of the floral frog, leaning slightly to the left side. This flower represents heaven. Take time to position the flower in a pleasing, graceful line.

Place the medium-length branch or flowers toward the bottom left of the floral frog. Lean the flower towards the left, but at a steeper angle than the first flower. This flower represents the earth. Step back to examine your arrangement from different angles, and adjust to please your eye.

4.  Place the shortest branch or flower on the bottom right side of the floral frog. Lean it slightly away from the longest branch. This represents humankind. Remember that in ikebana, empty space is as important as the floral elements.

5.  Fill the arrangement in with additional short flowers or greenery until the floral frog is completely covered.

Mito Kairakuen Gardens in Japan March 26, 2012

Today I finally get to meet Valarie and her son Kencho.  The minute we arrived at their home they were both waiting outside for us.  We introduced ourselves and right away I knew we were going to become great long time friends.  Kencho is 7 years old and became my friend immediately. During our ride we sorta let Sally (name of Teresa's GPS) try to get us to Mito Kairakuen but she did not know that there was a new highway that had been put in.  We tried to follow her but Teresa said we are turning around and going back we had already been taken 20 minutes out of our way.  We stopped and Teresa found out where to get on the new highway.  We should arrive in about 15 more minutes at our destination.  We parked and when we got out the weather was getting very cold and looked like rain.  We went ahead and found a bench to enjoy the lunch that Valarie had made.  Yummo she can pack a great picnic lunch. :-)  We all stood there freezing but refused to give up and leave because of the weather. 

At the entrance to Kairakuen is a statue of Nariaki Tokugawa, who gave the gardens to everyone to enjoy.  Kairakuen is one of the 3 most famous parks in Japan.

Senba Lake lay ahead of us as we set off to view the beauty of the park.  There was a place on the water to rent paddle boats.  Many people were out in these boats today.  There were also some ducks to feed, and Kencho seemed to enjoy them a lot.

I can literally smell the fragrant plum blossoms. I'm so excited to cross the water and view the 100 different types of plum trees, a cedar forest, bamboo trees, cherry blossoms, azaleas, and camellia trees.  When we started crossing the bridge, a few men were enjoying the sunshine and playing checkers. What a great thing to be doing in this beautiful place.

  

The view from the bridge was so nice.

We also got a look at some of what was in store for us to see on the other side.  Wow is all I can say, the beauty of the pink and white plum blossoms about takes my breath away with its beauty.



























































The minute we got to the other side the aroma was pretty strong of the sweet smell of plum trees. I got very excited and anxious to see this huge display of plum trees, and was curious to see what was in store for me.  
Several vendors were selling all kinds of things, including food and items that promoted the park.

We walked through some of the gardens and took many pictures of the trees and their beauty and blossoms.  Several trees are very old, as there were crutches to help their branches from breaking.

Going to go get tickets to enter the Kobuntei 3-story wooden building. It is made up of the main house and a one-story annex, the nobility's private quarters. The word Kobun is another name for the Japanese Plum, which originated from China. During our walk to Kobuntei, I stopped and got my picture taken with a group portraying Nariaki and some Japanese ladies.

 

I took lots of pictures of the trees in bloom before reaching the Kobuntei home.  

 Teresa chan standing among the plum and cherry blossom trees.

 We have purchased our tickets and are removing our shoes to enter this beautiful home.

I am going to post a lot of the rooms within the house because they are beautiful, and I want to share the details that went into the building of this home.

 

 

 Kencho is a very good little boy. :-)

We are now going to where the bamboo trees are located.  I love bamboo and all the items the Japanese make with the wood. We stopped and shopped at one small shop that was on our way to see the bamboo trees.  

 Kencho liked playing on the roots of the big cedar trees. If I didn't think I would trip and fall, I would have joined him.





 We have reached the destination of the bamboo trees in the park.  I am so impressed with how many there are and how tall they are.


Posing for a picture in front of the bamboo trees with my great friends Teresa, Valarie, and Kencho.  I am having such a wonderful time with my new friends.

IT started to look like it was going to rain, so we started out towards the exit gates.  It started to rain hard, so all of us ducked into one of the little shops.  

 When it stopped raining, the sun came back out, and we walked to the bridge to cross over the water.  As we were crossing, a big, beautiful swan was swimming downstream.  

 Before we got to the car we saw a black swan and one swan sitting on her nest. He was being very protective of her.

 

Kencho was promised we would go to the park before we left, so we walked across the street and let Kencho play.  He had a great time, and so did we.  Thank you, Teresa, for showing us this wonderful place.  Valarie and Kencho I truly value our friendship; you are wonderful people.

 I am now back at Kazue's house and Shushumo's house.  What wonderful, loving people they are.  Shushumo had brought home a bottle of Japanese wine, and together we ate dinner, then talked and drank our bottle of wine.  I am loving my stay with them both.  I am so lucky to have made such wonderful friends.