It is always a pleasure to visit and take lessons from the masters at the Sogetsu Headquarters in Tokyo. Flower material is always abundant and sometimes it feels like we have too many choices!
Here are the arrangements I worked on this time around.
27-Oct-2025
This one uses an interesting plant. Gomphocarpus physocarpus, the balloon plant. Japanese name: フウセントウワタ (“fuusentouwata”)
10-Nov-2025
I hope you like them. —Miyako
My sensei gifted me with tickets to the 106th Sogetsu Annual Ikebana Exhibition at the Takashimaya Department Store in Nihombashi, Tokyo. 『花は心』 ”Flowers Are The Heart”.
At the entrance was a huge bamboo installation created by Sogetsu Iemoto Akane Teshigahara. It was like a graceful dance of bamboo, showing speed of movement and yet still elegant.
Here are some more of the beautiful arrangements.
And… how lucky for me to meet Iemoto Akane Teshigara herself! It was an honour!
One of my students came back from the Annapolis Valley and brought these wonderful branches for me. We don’t know what they are. They have big, berry-like fruit and very long thorns!
I decided to use only these branches for an arrangement. The changing colours and slight curling of the leaves tell us that autumn is here! The glossy fruit give contrast to the fading hues.
I hope you like it. —Miyako
It was surprising to see the underside of this leaf turning purple!
I hope you like it! —Miyako
As summer ends, the ubiquitous Queen Anne’s Lace flowers have started to ball up into flowerheads. Yes, the plant is considered a weed but is still interesting to use for ikebana!
I hope you like it. —Miyako
A few days ago, we were invited by a company in Halifax to present ikebana as part of the firm’s recreation programs. The demonstration was also live-streamed to all their offices across Canada! Thank you very much for your interest in ikebana!
Our ikebana exhibition this year was held on the weekend of Feb 22-23, 2025 at the Sackville Public Library. Thank you to all who came and visited us. We hope you enjoyed the show. We certainly enjoyed putting everything together!
It was an interesting challenge as the tops of bookshelves were used as platforms. So all the arrangements had to be designed to be seen from roughly around eye level and up. Also, we had to take care that no branches go past beyond the air space of the shelf, lest a library patron get poked in the eye while browsing the shelves!
The library’s main hall was a beautiful space with a large wall-to-wall glass window that allowed natural light into the space. It also afforded us with a breathtaking view of the outside scenery and was a wonderful backdrop for the demonstration. We used the shelves on the right side for the exhibition.
We’d like to thank the team at the Sackville Public Library—Eric D, Jasmina K, Ainslie C, and Doreen S—for your warm welcome. You made everything go smoothly! Thank you for entrusting your space to us for the weekend!
To Miyako’s students who gave so much of their time and effort to make this a success, well done and thank you! We hope you had a great experience.
Free-Style Arrangement by Robert L
Free-Style Arrangement by Miyako
Variation No. 5 by Leo A
Free-Style by Media C
Free-Style by Michelle C
Variation No. 3 by Denise P
Variation No. 4 by Heather N
Free-Style by Val S
Variation No. 5 by Brenda D
Free-Style by Linda K
Free-Style by Lyla H
Free-Style by Miyako
Free-Style by Linda C
Free-Style by Odessa G
Ikebana Demonstration by Miyako
And here are some members of our team having a relaxed moment! That was a lot of fun and we hope to do it again soon.
CBC and CTV News also featured us in their local news!
Rolled up some hypericum stems to express a light and buoyant feeling!
I hope you like it. —Miyako
Shades of yellow and brown have started to appear on the Forsythia branches. The Burning Bush leaves have begun its crimson transformation. Summer is soon over and autumn begins!
I hope you like it. —Miyako
It felt almost like yesterday that the apple tree was blooming. Now it has fruit!
I hope you like it. —Miyako
