Flower Arrangement in Japan

The practice of arranging and composing flowers in Japan is not counted among the pastimes of amusement; it is a respected occupation, practiced by men and women alike after they have trained in it for several years. It therefore holds among them a special position as one of the fine arts, with its own historical traditions and its standing among the rest of the fine arts. There is hardly a Japanese man or woman of any culture who is ignorant of this art, for cultivated Japanese have never ceased, since the dawn of their civilization, to give great care to its study. And among the courtesies of company on visits is that the master of the house asks his visitor to give his opinion on the arrangement of the flowers, and he may even ask him to move with his own hand a few blossoms from one vase to another as his artistic taste suggests.

The composition of the flowers must be such as to convey to the beholder a picture resembling, as far as possible, their condition while still on the mother plant — not a picture of something lifeless. The Japanese, for example, arrange flowers in their homes in ways that represent the springing of plants from beneath the surface of the earth, by making them emerge at the surface of the water in the vessel as though growing out of it; for this reason they use plenty of plant leaves and buds along with the blossoms whose petals have opened.

Flower arrangement everywhere in the world has its rules and principles for observing proportion and harmony among the colors. To confine roses in an unnatural, tightly packed bunch robs them of their splendor and beauty. You must not crowd leaves and branches at the neck of a transparent vase, and you must observe balance in the passage between the heads of the flowers and the lower ends of their stems in the vase. The general principle is to secure balance without regard for symmetry, for nature is rarely symmetrical. The main stems of the flowers in the vase must not cross; and to set them parallel and at one height, or at different heights such that each is taller than the next by a fixed ratio, or to place their branches at a single height — all of this is counted devoid of taste. The rule generally followed is that the height should be one and a half times the height of the vessel if the vessel is tall; if it is short, then the height of the flowers must be one and a half times as much.

One color must be the principal color in any arrangement, instead of the colors being equal; and gathering the flowers of a single color together in a bunch may well be more beautiful than scattering them here and there through the bunch, for scattered colors do not invite the gaze — the eye recoils from them — and so they are said to be unbalanced. The dark colors must be placed at a level lower than that of the light-colored flowers, and on the inside, that is, in the middle of the vessel. If, however, the flowers are of a single color, the large blossoms must be put in the place of the dark-colored ones. And if

you wish to compose a group of red, blue, or purple flowers, add to them a few flowers of other colors, such as yellow, so as to give your bunch its full value of color.

The harmony between the flowers and the vessel in which they are composed must be complete; the one may not overwhelm the other. Round flowers with thick stems, like the yellow chrysanthemum and the dahlia, ask to be placed in a large, round vessel of little height, while the tall vessel suits flowers with slender stems, like lilies and anemones. The thin, easily broken vase of pale color suits thin, pale-colored flowers, while the dark-colored, heavy vase is the best that can be had for large, dark-colored blossoms of velvety appearance.

And we must use flowers as painters use colors, to adorn the home. If a bunch of white lilies, for example, is placed in a room whose walls are white, it grows in cheer and freshness, just as blue flowers in a blue room lend it splendor. Branches and trailing vines should be placed in a room rich in sunlight, so that they cast a shadow in the place. The beauty of flowers shows, generally, when they are placed before walls and other solid bodies, not with empty space behind them as one looks at them. Yet there are blossoms that can look more beautiful if placed in the middle of the room, so that the light gets a large share of them, such as the blue lily and the blue trumpet-shaped flowers.

And if you wish, Madam, to pick a bunch of blossoms, pick them in the morning before nine o'clock, while the dew or the moisture still clings to them, or pick them in the evening in the cool hours of late afternoon. Rose blossoms, for example, may be picked only in the evening, and the dahlia flower after sunset, when its buds have opened well. Cut the stems with a sharp knife so that the cut is slanting, and beware of using shears, for they injure the stem and bruise it badly, so that it becomes difficult for the water to seep through its veins to the flower's petals. As for the necessity of cutting them slantwise, it is because the sharp point at the side of the stem's base becomes its point of rest at the bottom of the vase, leaving the veins free to absorb the water. The stems of the flowers must be long, even if you intend to shorten them afterward. And know that picking anemones and lilies before their buds open is the best method, while certain other flowers are best picked when their buds begin to open.

When you cut flowers, you must place them in water for several hours before composing them in the vessel, keeping them thus in a dark, cool place; some kinds need to be left thus for twelve hours. And there are kinds of flowers whose stems must be dipped in boiling water as soon as they are cut from the mother plant — the dahlia, for example — before they are placed in cold water. Take care not to expose the flowers, in this state, to the steam of the water. And that the flowers may live long in freshness in the vase, put into the water a little powdered charcoal, or permanganate of potash, or any other disinfectant that kills bacteria and prevents their growth. Cut a little from the stem every day, doing so beneath the surface of the water to keep bubbles of air from entering the stem, for air bubbles prevent the water from seeping easily through its veins. The violet does not absorb water through its stem, and so, if you do not water the flowers themselves, they die of thirst. And beware, Madam, of letting your flowers see the rays of the sun, or be exposed to a draft of air. If roses, daisies, or flowers with woody stems wilt, they must be immersed up to their necks in warm water; as for flowers that have wilted completely, dip them in hot water and they will revive quickly, and perhaps not return to wilting before their time.