Just like it changed mine 30 years ago
This morning I went to the wholesaler to buy flowers for 24 people. Twenty-four people who will try Ikebana, the Japanese flower arrangement, for the first time tomorrow!
Each person will use only two kinds of materials: one kind of green branches and one kind of flowers. With the minimum sort of materials, can you make something beautiful?nbsp; That’s the challenge.
The people who will take my workshop tomorrow all work for a large high-tech company. I myself was working for a big IT company when I took my first Ikebana lesson, working hard every day, stressed every day.
On the day when I first walked into the Ikebana class, my teacher, who must have been younger than I am now, welcomed me with a warm smile. She taught me how to hold scissors, how to bend a branch, and on which angle to place it onto the Kenzan, a pin frog.
For my teacher, I was merely one of her many students. She must have given the same instruction many times previously.
But for me, it was an eye-opener. My life has never been the same ever since I learned the joy of creating something beautiful with natural materials.
Almost thirty years later, I no longer work in the IT industry, but I still continue learning Ikebana, now I’m on the teaching side.
When picking flowers, I just wondered… Among the twenty-four people who will come to my workshop tomorrow, would there be one who might encounter Ikebana the same way as I did Who knows!
For that possibility, I continue to teach Ikebana. Just like my teacher has changed my life, I might change some youngster’s life. Or not. All I do is to do my best to share the joy of creating something beautiful.