Lit. to keep flowers alive. Flower arrangements. Originated in Buddhist flower offerings kuge 供花 from the 6th century, but by the 15th century had begun to develop and diversify as an art form with styles and schools of its own.
The earliest arrangements were part of the three elements offering, mitsugusoku 三具足, wherein flowers were placed on one side of an incense burner and a candlestick on the other. Three flowers were placed symmetrically in a tall metal container with the central stem approximately one and a half times the height of the container. This style is known as tatebana 立花 (standing flowers).
The next important development in flower arrangement is the rikka 立花 style, also meaning 'standing flowers' and it is from this that all subsequent styles have developed. The originator is thought to be Senkei 専慶 of the Ikenobō 池坊 school in Kyoto, who created an arrangement in a golden vase on February 25, 1462. The idea was to create an asymmetrical form which through a series of symbols depicts the mythical Mt. Sumeru (Jp: *Shumisen 須弥山), which is at the heart of Buddhist cosmology and thus also the Buddhist Universe. The original seven branches of rikka arrangements are symbols of natural features:
- 1. ryō 嶺 : a peak.
- 2. gaku 岳 : a hill below it.
- 3. rō 滝 : a waterfall on the hill, gaku.
- 4. shi 市 : a town where people gather by the water.
- 5. bi 尾 : a valley behind the mountain.
- 6. yō 陽 : represents the sunlit and positive side of the scene.
- 7. in 陰 : represents the shady and negative side.
The characters used for six and seven are those in Chinese representing Yin and Yang.
With the emergence of the tea ceremony *chanoyu 茶湯 as a cultural force in the late 16th century, a new form of ikebana also emerged to complement it. This is called chabana 茶花 meaning tea flowers. Sen no Rikyū 千利休 (1522-91) is considered the originator of this. The style most suited to the rigors of the tea ceremony is called nageire 投入れ (to throw into). This is an austere form sometimes using only one flower, but by its free and fluid style it expresses natural beauty rather than any intellectual symbolism. It is also called heika 瓶花 (vase flowers).
The styles of rikka number 29 in total, each of which was developed by a succession of masters of the Ikenobō school, from Senkei himself (fl. 1462-72) through to Senkō 3 専好 (fl. 1708-34). During the Momoyama period ikebana showed itself an ideal accompaniment to the splendid interiors of private residences fashionable at the time. The decorative alcove *tokonoma 床の間 used to display artworks became the usual setting for domestic ikebana.
Although originally a priestly and aristocratic pursuit, by the 17th century, a golden age for rikka, the desire to pursue the art spread to the samurai 侍 class, and although the Ikenobō school remained pre-eminent, other schools were founded. The wide range of possibilities for ikebana is shown in the Rikka imayōsugata 立花今様姿 (Styles of Current Day Rikka, 1688). Important schools of rikka other than Ikenobō include that founded by Daijūin Ishin 大住院以信 (1607-97): he was expelled from Ikenobō by Sen'yō in 1665 and moved to Edo where he set up on his own.
The end of the 17th century was a time of a flourishing mercantile class. This coincided with a new form, simpler than the complex rikka styles, that combined with nageire to produce shōka 生花 (living flowers), which reflected a desire to show the essence of the plant in its natural form. The basic style is of three branches arranged in an asymmetric triangle. The three are usually called shin 真 primary, soe 副 secondary, and tai 体 tertiary. Shōka flourished throughout the 18th-19th century.