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Letter to the editor

Focus is the root of this Asian art; floral beauty is the bloom

By LaRITA JACOBS, Times Correspondent
Published November 11, 2007

The intense look of concentration on the students' faces made it clear: This wasn't Flower Arranging 101.

The 17 people gathered at the Largo Community Center last week are students of ikebana, which is the ancient art of Asian flower arranging.

It requires a depth of understanding and commitment so great, most followers continue training for many years - often decades.

Professor Noriyoshi Shimazu drew diagrams on the board and earnestly explained them in rapid Japanese. The translator struggled to convey the intensity in English

The audience was focused, leaning forward in their seats. Participants came from throughout the Tampa Bay area for the special class.

Once a year, ikebana teacher Muriel Scrivner's students are invited to sessions with a professor from the Ikenobo Ikebana University of Kyoto in Japan.

Scrivner, who teaches the monthly class at the Largo Community Center, lived in Japan for seven years, where she learned the language and began her training at the university. She has made ikenobo ikebana her livelihood for more than three decades, traveling to Japan every few years for training.

During the class, Shimazu challenged students not only to display the beauty in nature but to find their own spirit within the arrangements. This is the heart of ikenobo ikebana, he said.

There are guidelines to follow. Each style of ikenobo dictates the number of different materials used and the overall design concept. Some designs are meant be simpler, some more elaborate. Shoka designs represent man, heaven and earth. Rikka designs represent landscapes: mountain, river, valley.

Retired Navy officer Virginia Overstreet listened intently to the professor and began to work. She studied the ikenobo methods for two years while stationed in Okinawa, Japan. This is her 13th year of study.

Once a month, she travels to Largo from her home in Tampa for the class.

"I find it calming, the concentration required gets me centered," she said as she put a palm cutting into her arrangement.

Across the room, Trisha Weimer frowned at her design. Although she has experience with traditional floral designing, her ikebana training began just six months ago.

She began flower arranging with roses but fell in love with the Asian style.

"It is a tremendous amount to learn and it can be frustrating, but there is a lot of satisfaction," Weimer said.

Tavares resident Michael Beedenbender has studied ikebana for 10 years. A lifelong student of Asian culture, he began his study of ikebana while living in Hong Kong.

"Each time is different - different materials, different angles, different styles," he said. "It takes a lot of concentration, but when you've created something you're really proud of, it feels good."

[Last modified November 10, 2007, 22:40:12]