Chabana in the Tea Ceremony :The Heart

 Chabona: evokes Nature.   Remove the human hand what remains is “heart”.  Unaffected, sincere.  Utensils, environment, and relations between host and guest should reflect this.  "

Ikebana reflects "Heaven" and Man, is organized and disciplined and regulated. Both derive from Buddhist practice: Light, Fragrance and Flowers .

Three Styles:

SHIN:  Classic.  (Formal) First Choose Flowers, then vase. Only use one stem, possibly a secondary one. Create substantial presence and verticality.   Chinese style: Bronze, Celadon, Kochi Red and Gold.  Symmetrical, Decorative ears.  Elegant.  "Crane's neck".

GYO    (Semi formal) Individuality.    Flowers: Lean and quiet.  Japanese glazed ceramics, slightly irregular.   Raku wares.    Vase should support flowers but not draw attention to itself, but still be interesting.   Angle slightly and be angular.  # 2 or 3 stems.  Equal strength among stems.

SO:  Informal.  Idiosyncratic.  Natural and rough vases.  Bamboos, baskets, gourds, Raku ware, unglazed ceramics, found objects.  For New Years, two stems.  Other wise one stem.  The  Master of Tea brought bamboo into tea room.  Dedicated to “wabi” : appreciation of ordinary materials and object.  

San Rikyku saved a cracked vase as the best, as" its leaking is the life of the vase…"

"Telling stories is the way of tea."

 SO:   Heian  Helmet: Korean gentleman hat.  Baskets: May – October.  May is first month of summer.   Flowers show passage of time, the calendar.  VALUE EACH MOMENT

Forbidden:  Sweet Daphne.  Over powering flowers.  Mt. Anise.  Blooms in all season.  (need calendar flowers).  Cockscomb – overpowering color and competing shape.  Patrina.  Unpleasant scent as it ages.  Pomegrante.  Produces fruit.  Wasteful as can use fruit.  Plum blossoms exception as it bears so much fruit.  Pond Lily.  Unpleasant meaning to name.  Marigold.  Without season.  Altar flower. 

Sen Rikkyu’s guidelines:  Do not say “arrange”.  But “place”.  Flowers washed by rain and bent in the wind have a beauty vs. controlled blooming.   Flowers fragile bloom fades in a single day.   “Arrange the flowers with your feet”:  …Walk in nature to see how flowers grow!  

In winter, use woody stems and in summer, use flowering grasses.  Respect its nature.  Need to find flowers in natural blooming.  Seek buds, not flowers in full bloom.  Place the flowers as they are growing in the fields.  Place the flowers in a single breath.  Do not arrange.  Tea ceremony lasts four hours.

Do not seek the unusual.  Beauty in the ordinary.  Vs. do not long for static.   Camellia not used because too close to tea plant.  Cherry blossoms more beautiful in their natural habitat. 

"Only a fool prunes the cherry tree; only a fool does not prune the plum. 

Never use a frog.  Put stick in mouth of vase.  Flower should not lean on vase. 

Do not put stem in middle but wide and narrow side.  

Chabana: Attitude.  “Wild” vs. “severe”.  Need CLARITY.  Each element appreciated for what it is…where emerges from vase.  Single line. Consider: Less is More.   

Color: Lavender…clematis and spray.  2.  Grass adds “softness”.  Complementary comment on scroll.  Another selection: Lace caphydraghenia and geranium.    Columbine. Grass.  

7 Parts function and 3 parts aesthetic. Need water container.  .  95% is selection.  Needs to be assymetrical.