Shoka Style

Friday's ikebana class was the first time I didn't make a freestyle arrangement. Instead I learned a style called Shoka. The structure of class went a little differently, as Sensei arranged my flowers in Shoka style for me, and after studying them I took the arrangement apart and tried to rebuild it. Here's what it looked like when Sensei did it:

Side view:
And here's what it looked like when I did it back at the apartment:


So, Shoka has three elements: shin, soe, and tai. And I didn't quite understand what they represented when Sensei explained it in Japanese, but a quick internet check tells me they represent heaven, earth, and human beings. In this arrangement, the tallest yellow flower is the shin, the two leaves on the left are the soe, and the purple flowers are the tai. The shorter yellow flower and the leaf on the right are the front and back supports for the shin.

In Shoka, you have to arrange the flowers in a straight line like this:

So that when you look at the arrangement from the front, they hide each other like this:

Which I think is pretty neat.

This coming week, class is canceled. Next week we're scheduled to make Christmas wreathes, but that's the week I'll be in Kyoto, so I'm going to miss out.

But I'll be in Kyoto, which will be awesome.