Introduction

Ikebana, the Japanese art of floral arranging, is an ancient art.  In Japanese the word is written with two characters:  ike (生), which means “to live” and bana (花), which means “flower”.  The literal translation is living flower, or the art of bringing flowers to life.

Ikebana is therefore the art of using a flower to symbolize nature, to create the perfect flower, to arrange its natural beauty, even with its imperfections.

The Ikenobo school of ikebana is the oldest and one of the most traditional of the schools of ikebana.  Its great masters attended the Imperial courts and to this day the school is identified with the Buddhist temple in Kyoto.  Since the end of WW II there has been a tendency towards more modern arrangements, all the while maintaining the links with its traditional values.

The Montreal chapter was founded in 1967 by a group of eight members and was granted its charter in 1974.  For many years the school has taken part in a number of activities, notably presentations at Montreal’s famous Botanical Garden.  In 1986 the chapter had the great honour of receiving Ikenobo Grand Master Sen’ei Ikenobo.  Weekly classes are offered in the spring and fall and each year a professor from Japan comes to give a lesson.