My Ikenobo Ikebana No. 5

I was allowed to choose my vase and so it’s a rather unusual shape this time that really stimulates your imagination as to where the leaves and flowers should be, can be, wants to be, or are speaking to your soul to be. The beauty of Ikebana is that it is a conversation, silent but certain, not only with the elements of Nature but also with things like a vase, specially made by an artist for Ikenobo Ikebana, an individual. You are also relating to many other people, your ikebana teacher, of course, and your inner self, but, more significantly, memories of people, like your mother, who taught you your first lessons in ikebana, pride and joy in your Japanese heritage, and recognizing beauty and the message of impermanence in Life.

My Ikenobo Ikebana No. 4 is here with links to the previous works.

Hiroshima on Our Minds

Hiroshima On Our Minds. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba read a tanka poem by Shinoe Shoda at the end of his speech this year. He read it twice, which was not initially planned, saying: “With a flood of emotions as I reflect deeply on those words, I hereby conclude my address.”

The official translation:

The heavy bone must be a teacher’s. The small skulls beside it must be students gathered around.

My translation:

The big bone a teacher

Nearby tiny skulls

Huddle close

The original Japanese:

太き骨は先生ならむ

そのそばに小さきあたまの骨

あつまれり

The words of the Hiroshima poet, who wrote extensively about the horrors of war, are engraved in a memorial in that city. She died in 1965.