Flora Fervor
With the Women’s Group’s fall semester of enrichment programs in full swing, one Member explains her passion for Japanese
floral art.
As the daughter of an Indian diplomat, Club Member Preeti Kothari grew up all over the world, from the frenetic urban centers of New York City and London to Kenya and the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.
Wherever she called home, Kothari recalls her mother decorating their house with arrangements of local flowers and fauna, whether it was flame lilies in Zimbabwe or lotuses, the national flower of India.
“My mother used a great variety of flowers, like Himalayan poppies, anthuriums, jacaranda, pine cones, driftwood, to name a few,” says Kothari. “That was very much part of my growing up.”
A resident of Japan since 1997, Kothari can be found every Thursday morning in the Toko Shinoda Classroom, where she takes a class in ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging.
“Even before I moved here, I had heard a lot about ikebana,” says Kothari. “My mom said while you are there, why don’t you give it a shot? Take a few lessons and see how you like it.” She has been taking classes at the Club for almost 10 years. On this particular day, Kothari is creating an arrangement with violet gentia, white chrysanthemums and orange bittersweet berries.
“It’s the simplicity of ikebana which I find attractive,” says Kothari. “You don’t need 20 flowers to make a fabulous, elaborate arrangement. You can just have one rose and one leaf. You can create something very small and basic, and it can look perfectly beautiful.”
Since beginning her studies with Club instructor Noriko Matsudaira, Kothari has progressed through the four levels of ikebana textbooks, and recently completed the second-grade teaching course of Sogetsu, one of ikebana’s main schools, which was founded in 1927.
“What started out as one term in the ikebana class became something of a passion,” says Kothari, who has also taken sumi-e, calligraphy and photography classes at the Club. “Sensei is very calm. She is a wonderful person, and just working with
the beautiful flowers in this environment here, it is like meditating.”
While students clean up trays of water and bundle up their flowers at the end of class, Matsudaira, dressed in a stone-blue kimono, serenely clips the stem of a yellow cockscomb flower with a pair of pruning shears. Matsudaira, 85, started teaching at the Club 49 years ago, when there were only three classes on offer for Members: exercise, painting and ikebana. “I never get tired of doing ikebana,” says the two-time past president of Ikebana International. “There are so many different aspects and so many different ways of doing the flowers.”
Matsudaira chose the Sogetsu style of ikebana because, like jazz, it is considered a creative form. Traditional schools of ikebana follow strict rules, while students of Sogetsu are allowed to use any material available. Over the years, Matsudaira says, she has seen foreign students produce creative color combinations that students of conventional ikebana wouldn’t think to use.
“It is nice to see the students improve,” says Matsudaira, noting how Kothari has developed her own style. To earn her second teaching certificate, Kothari attended 40 ikebana classes at the Club and passed a test in which she had to create a specific style of arrangement with materials provided. She says she hopes to eventually reach the level of headmaster.
“People like me, who could potentially do a class elsewhere, I choose to do it at TAC because I think the teachers are excellent,” says Kothari. “For people who are here in the short-term, it is fantastic to have this facility available to them. You can take a class with a highly-qualified teacher and go back to your home country, wherever that is, bringing a piece of Japan with you.”
Visit the Women’s Group page of the Club website to learn more about the range of enrichment programs available at the Club.
Words: Nick Narigon
Photo: Kayo Yamawaki
