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    Art of Chabana: Flowers for the Tea Ceremony
    Art of Chabana: Flowers for the Tea Ceremony
    Art of Chabana: Flowers for the Tea Ceremony
    Ebook186 pages2 hours

    Art of Chabana: Flowers for the Tea Ceremony

    By Henry Mittwer

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    About this ebook

    The Art of Chabana is devoted to the exquisite art of Japanese flower arranging for the tea ceremony.

    Chabana is a simple arrangement of floral or other plant material traditionally placed in the tokonoma, or alcove, of the room in which the tea ceremony is performed. There are no rules in arranging Chabana, the author tells us, no special measurements or geometric patterns, Rather, the creator of a Chabana must use his imagination and, most of all, a special inspiration from within.

    The author gives practical flower arranging guidelines and discusses in length more than 100 flowers that are suitable for Chabana, explaining exactly how they can be used and the most appropriate seasons for their display. The book includes a complete list of plants with names in English, Japanese, and Latin.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTuttle Publishing
    Release dateMar 10, 2012
    ISBN9781462912254
    Art of Chabana: Flowers for the Tea Ceremony

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      Book preview

      Art of Chabana - Henry Mittwer

      THE ART OF CHABANA

      hana (flower) calligraphy by Zen Master Roshi Nakagawa, Soen of Ryutaku-ji, Mishima Ôita, Shizuoka.

      The Art of

      CHABANA

      Flowers for the Tea Ceremony

      by HENRY MITTWER

      paintings by Takashi Nomura

      sketches by Yoshiko Akai

      CHARLES E. TUTTLE COMPANY

      Rutland · Vermont: Tokyo · Japan

      Representatives

      For Continental Europe:

      BOXERBOOKS, INC., Zurich

      For the British Isles:

      PRENTICE-HALL INTERNATIONAL, INC., London

      For Australasia:

      PAUL FLESCH & CO., PTY. LTD., Melbourne

      For Canada:

      HURTIG PUBLISHERS, Edmonton

      Published by the Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc.

      of Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan

      with editorial offices at

      Osaki Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141-0032

      Copyright in Japan, 1974

      by Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc.

      All rights reserved

      Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 73-93226

      ISBN: 978-1-4629-1225-4 (ebook)

      First printing, 1974

      PRINTED IN JAPAN

      This book is respectfully dedicated

      to the late Zen monk

      Senzaki Nyogen

      who showed me the path to a life of simplicity

      Chabana means flowers for tea. It is a type of flower arrangement created in the spirit of the aestheticism of wabi (see p. 34).

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      FOREWORD by Sen Soshitsu

      Part One: LIFE WITH FLOWERS

      Man and Nature

      A Historical Sketch of Ikebana

      The Art of Cha: Chanoyu

      The Samurai, Cha, Zen, and Chabana

      A Life of Wabi

      The Spirit of Chabana

      Part Two: FLOWERS AND SEASONS

      Spring: February    March     April

      Summer: May   June    July

      Autumn: August    September    October

      Winter: November    December    January

      The Forbidden Flowers

      The Weed Flowers

      Epilogue

      LIST OF PLANTS

      GLOSSARY AND NOTES

      BIBLIOGRAPHY

      INDEX

      LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

        1. February−Sanshu and camellia in a pottery vase

        2. March−Saxifrage in a hanging bamboo boat

        3. April−Apple bough and camellia in a bamboo vase

        4. May−Bog−reed, thistle, evening primrose, spirea, and trumpet honeysuckle in a fisherman's creel

        5. June−Lady's slipper, thistle, and loosestrife in a pottery vase

        6. July−Burnet, clematis, morning−star lily, billberry, and bush clover in a bamboo basket

        7. August−Evening primrose, aster, and Indian poke in a vine basket

        8. September−Eulalia, burnet−bloodwort, smartweed, pigeonberry, and Pink in a bisk-ware vase

        9. October−Okera and Chinese begonia in a bamboo basket

      10. November−Job's tears, shrubby althea, aster, agrimony, and butterfly bush in a bamboo chopstick basket

      11. December−Witch-hazel and Judith camellia in Iga pottery

      12. January−Narcissus in Chinese bronzeware

      SKETCHES

        1. Sanshu

        2. Red-berried elder

        3. Flower-of-the-butterbur

        4. Rape flower

        5. Little handball

        6. Cucumber tree

        7. Equinox cherry

        8. Camellia

        9. Wistaria

      10. Trumpet honeysuckle

      11. Fairy bells

      12. Weigela

      13. Columbine

      14. Loosestrife-of-the-field

      15. Bell flower

      16. Dogwood

      17. Thistle

      18. Spirea

      19. Burnet

      20. Bindweed

      21. Burnet-bloodwort

      22. Indigo

      23. Shrubby althea, rose of Sharon

      24. Longpurple, willowweed

      25. Bush clover

      26. Arrowroot,

      27. Smartweed, knotweed

      28. Pink

      29. Patrinia

      30. Touch-me-not, jewelweed

      31. Toad lily

      32. Aster

      33. Winged spindle tree

      34. Job's tears

      35. French daffodil, narcissus

      36. Honeysuckle

      37. Foxtail grass

      38. Umbrella sedge

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      My study of the art of Chabana was made possible by the generosity of Mr. Sen Soshitsu xv of the Ura Senke School of Chanoyu in Kyoto. I wish to express my sincere thanks to him and to all the instructors associated with the school. Through their kindness, I was able to understand the significance of the aesthetic ideal of the art of the tea ceremony, Chanoyu.

      Although I had the great privilege of studying Chabana under the most favorable circumstances, I feel I have only caught glimpses of this expressive art. This book does not attempt to cover all that can be said of the subject. However, if I am able to arouse any interest in the reader about the art of Chabana, and if I can make new friends through this book, I will consider myself fortunate.

      For the preparation of this work, innumerable persons have given me their valuable assistance. I am especially grateful to Mr. Yamafuji Sozan, a man whose lifetime devotion to the art of Chabana has earned him the reputation of being one of the foremost masters in this art. He kindly arranged the twelve monthly Chabana to be used for illustrations, and provided much valuable information for Part Two dealing with the various flowers of the seasons. Also, I am grateful to Mrs. W. H. Johnstone of New York for her careful reviewing of the manuscript; to my daughter, whose secretarial efficiency and untiring fingers organized this material through her typing; and last, but not least, to my wife, who watched over this work as if an umbrella of kindness were lifted above me.

      FOREWORD

      by SEN SOSHITSU

      fifteenth descendant of Sen Rikyu

      Up to now, with the exception of Okakura Kakuzo's excellent account of flowers used in the art of Chanoyu in his delightful The Book of Tea, almost nothing has been available on the subject. To my knowledge, the present volume is the only book written in English that is wholly devoted to the special form of flower arrangement called Chabana.

      Chabana is a type of flower arrangement that originated in the tea room (called chashitsu) for the appreciation of those partaking of cha, or tea. Chabana is not only for decoration, for symbolic representation, or for abstract expression of the self. If I may cite an episode that took place 2,500 years ago, Chabana has something in common with one of Shakyamuni Buddha's sermons. Buddha lightly picked a single bloom from a basketful of flowers offered to Him by one of the multitude who came to hear His sermon. Buddha slowly, silently, held up the flower before the congregation. Among the gathering was one of His disciples, Mahakasyapa, who gently smiled as he apprehended the Buddha's gesture.

      Chabana may not be a flower arrangement having a Zen-like mission, but it certainly is a flower arrangement appreciated by a mind nourished with the Zen principles of simplicity and directness.

      Life with Flowers, which Mr. Mittwer has titled the first part of this book, is very appropriate. In this age of environmental pollution and exploitation of nature, we are overwhelmed by the stress and struggle of society. We should find the room and the time in our minds for a bowl of cha and simple flowers. Life with Flowers means to see and to live with flowers, and to find humanity in a bowl of cha.

      Along with Noh, haiku, sumi paintings, karesansui gardens, raku ceramics, and other beautiful Japanese arts and crafts, Chabana quietly blossomed in the ancient cultural city of Kyoto. The art of Chabana is one of Japan's proud heritages because it is an art form that transcends all national and cultural boundaries.

      Kyoto, Japan

      Part One

      LIFE WITH FLOWERS

           1

      MAN AND NATURE

      Sad is a home, however practical and economical, when decorated with plastic flowers. Yet it is touching to realize what motivation is behind those artificial blooms—a longing for the beautiful.

      The love of flowers is universal. This has been so ever since man separated himself from the brute. Flowers are so much a part of us that we cannot envision life without them. We garland our days from birth to death with flowers. Cities, states, and countries are symbolized by flowers. We name our children after flowers. They are used for medicine and food; they are dissected and mutilated; they are desired by all, but are often mistreated.

      The flowers of the field, of the woods, and even the nameless little flowers along the wayside that go unnoticed, speak; their simple but mysteriously beautiful whisper tells us the intimate meaning of life. Wordsworth muses to himself: To me the meanest flower that blows can give / Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.

      Man may walk boldly on this earth, but he, too,

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