Suspended Bamboo Vase in
the Form of a Boat, Containing
an Arrangement
of Iris.
After having accomplished this to the best of her ability, she returned with it to the teacher's desk, when he pointed out to her any defects it might contain.
The Japanese divide plants and flowers, without any regard to scientific facts, into the male and female sex. Trees, mountains, and streams are likewise classified as their fancy wills. This division of flowers and plants into sexes forms an important consideration in the art of flower arrangement. In a composition in which delicate plants and slender vines are used in connection with stems of trees, the latter represent the male element and should always form the centre or backbone of the arrangement and serve as a support for the former, the female element.
Morning-Glory and Shion
Arrangement, in Imitation
Well Buckets.
The various vessels used for holding the flowers form a very important feature in the art of flower arrangement, and a great many varieties are utilized for this purpose. Certain arrangements require long-necked vessels of earthenware or bronze, while broad and shallow ones are used for others. A great variety of baskets, known as flower baskets, are also used. These vary in shape and size, and some are suspended, while others are placed upon the ground. They always contain an inner vessel for holding water.
Another form of vessel very extensively used is one made of a cylinder of bamboo. This is generally formed from a section cut near the root, where the form is irregular and the joints are close together. These bamboo tubes are from one to two feet in height and from three to six inches in diameter, and sometimes have holes cut in the sides for inserting flowers.
Bamboo vases in the forms of boats are often hung in Japanese rooms. Imitation well-buckets, made of lacquered wood or porcelain, are also employed for holding flowers. Always used in pairs, they are generally suspended over a pulley by a silk rope, and make a very effective and pleasing decoration for a room.
One of the most important results of the study of this floral art has been in the direction of simplicity. It has created a love and an appreciation for the beauty of a single flower—for in its color and form, in its graceful stem and well-formed leaves, the votaries of this art find far more enjoyment than in confused masses of many colored flowers.
While there is, no doubt, much in Japanese flower arrangement that is unintelligible to us and would fail to appeal to the uninitiated, there is also much that would be understood and admired everywhere by persons of good taste. It is indeed a wonder that our attention has not been more generally drawn to this interesting study, so suggestive of a new and promising field of artistic possibilities.