Students gather in a classroom around their teacher, but rather than hand out a test or begin a lecture, UCLA Extension instructor Kyoko Kassarjian surveys students as they delicately piece together flowers into complex Japanese floral arrangements called Ikebana.
This ancient art of flower arrangement, in which the slightest angle of a flower or line of a vase makes all the difference, will now arrive at the main UCLA campus. “Discover Ikebana” offers exhibitions today and Thursday in Ackerman Union, along with demonstrations at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. both days.
The main focus of Ikebana rests in the linear aspects of the creation, with the goal of harmonizing container, flowers and stems into one masterpiece.
Masako Easton, one of Kassarjian’s students at UCLA Extension, commented on the difficult process of producing the perfect balance entails.
“One flower, facing this way or that way, will make or break the entire piece,” she said. “Also, each arrangement must go with the environment around it, whether it’s a beach or a park.”
The complexity of Ikebana requires years of training and constant tutelage. Advancement can be challenging: Students must progress through a series of four certificates, with each certificate requiring 24 lessons. After those, students can then pursue a teaching certificate, but the instruction still fails to cease.
“Even for me, there’s no end to study; you’re constantly continuing to learn,” Kassarjian said.
Kassarjian holds the highest rank of a sensei, that of riji, and has been an integral force in branching out Sogetsu Ikebana into the U.S.
The interest in Ikebana among the international community reflects a growing trend, seen in the assortment of students Kassarjian teaches here in Los Angeles. Countries represented in her class include Russia, Iran, France, Chile and Spain.
“It’s amazing because there’s a tendency with Japanese flower lessons for all the Japanese to gather together the majority of the time,” Easton said. “Most teachers fail to attract international students, but Kyoko (Kassarjian) does.”
Although Ikebana has burst in popularity among the international spectrum, the art has not gained as strong a momentum among younger individuals.
Kassarjian hopes to change this by sparking an interest in Ikebana among UCLA students. Students will have the chance to not just admire her artistic creations, but also to participate directly in the construction of a flower arrangement under Kassarjian’s guidance.
Between her demonstrations and the exhibition itself, Kassarjian hopes to extend knowledge of Ikebana from her Extension class to a younger, broader range of people at UCLA.
“It’s been my dream for years to extend Ikebana to younger students who might have never heard of the art of flower arrangement before,” Kassarjian said.
Ikebana claims its roots from the ancient practice of offering altar flowers to Buddha. Flower arrangement as an art form later developed into the 16th century, but only among upper class nobility.
By the 20th century, however, Ikebana blossomed in Japan and became a necessary rite of passage for young brides.
“Tea ceremony, cooking and Ikebana were all taught before marriage,” Kassarjian said.
Although Ikebana no longer exists as a mandatory practice for marriage, the art still thrives with over 3,000 Ikebana schools existing in Japan.
The Sogetsu School, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, stands as one of Japan’s premiere Ikebana schools, with branches not only here at UCLA but all over the world. The school takes an avant-garde approach to flower arrangement as an evolving, contemporary art form.
“Our school is very modern; we are not so spiritual, but artistic. Like the U.S., the Sogetsu school changes with the times,” Kassarjian said. “Building structures change, the younger generation changes, and so our school also changes.”
As part of this modernity, bedsprings, bamboo shoots and wooden lattices are substituted for ordinary vases to contain the flowers, blending natural components with artificial ones.
No longer constrained by the size of a normal vase, some creations consist of the size of a table centerpiece, while others extend out several feet, encompassing an entire room.
But regardless of their modern style, Easton hopes that students will realize the larger opportunities that Ikebana has to offer.
“The greatest part is that through this flower arrangement, you find yourself,” she said. “You uncover another part of yourself you didn’t realize existed.”