2023 was an exciting year for North Carolina and Japan relations; and 2024 is already shaping up to be even bigger. Japanese culture - and food, of course - continue to captivate North Carolinians. Anime continues to draw young people into a study of the Japanese language and new university partnerships are florishing. The North Carolina Museum of Art will unveil a samurai exhibit this fall and Charlotte will host a "once-every-14-years' business conference with a few hundred visitors from Japan.

David Robinson is the Honorary Consul for Japan, the Chairman of the Board of the Japan-American Society of North Carolina, the Chairman of the Board of Educational Growth Across Oceans (which hosts the annual anime conference in Raleigh with 14,000+ attendees), and a board member and advisor to numerous other nonprofits.

Mr. Robinson is also an international trade attorney and will be sharing a bit about how North Carolina and Japan have grown closer over the years and what future collaborations might be in the works.

Arrangements on the table are made for a gathering such as a special meal, a meeting, a celebration and so on. The arrangement style, the choice of materials and containers, the size and height differ depending on the purpose of the gathering, and shape, size and positioning of the table. These arrangements are to be viewed from all angles and yet to offer different impressions when viewed from each. When the table is going to be covered by a tablecloth, the work needs to be in harmony with its material and colors.

March 26 Workshop

Workshop fee is $15.

Participants will bring container, mechanics, hasami, and plant materials to arrange with a specific purpose in mind which each participant will describe to the group. A handout will be provided prior to the workshop to help each participant decide which scenario will be designed.
Maximum number of participants is 20.

All members will participate in this month’s program. Please bring a container of your choice to the meeting. It can be your favorite one, or one you don’t like, or maybe one that you have used in the past and had difficulty using it. All containers will be placed on a table and everyone will choose a container that doesn’t belong to them and make an arrangement.

You will need to bring flowers and all materials needed to make your arrangement. It will be fun seeing what others can do with your container!!

Ma refers to an artistic interpretation of an empty space, often holding as much importance as the rest of an artwork. It appears in many areas of Japanese arts and culture, and Ikebana is one of them. Let’s try to capture Ma!

May 28 Workshop

There is no charge for this workshop. Limited to 15 students.

Gather your own materials and bring your own containers. We will arrange flowers considering the Ma concept.

Ikebana does not need dedicated containers. In fact, it often is more interesting to create a container with the design material as in free standing or to create a container with found objects such as hub caps, lighting fixture parts, rock, brick, etc. Fun places to explore for inspiration are the junk yard, thrift stores, hardware stores, and nature for nartural material such as bark or palm fronds in Florida. Containers can be made from fabrics or packing material.

June 25 Workshop

There will be no charge for this workshop.

Bring your novel container and plant material and experiment with your creativity.

Workshop Participant List

Container of metal display stand with industrial hose from the hardware store

I will give an explanation of relief arrangements, explain several examples already made and make one or two.

July 23 Workshop

Workshop fee is $20

I can take 20 for the workshop where participants will create their own relief container. All materials will be provided. Participants should bring
scissors and lots of creativity.

Workshop Participant List

As we ikebanaists realize, the floral compositions of our respective schools are often planned to include symbolism. That is true in the Ohara school…and can be seen in the plans for September’s demonstration.

By incorporating a mixture of lingering summer plants and emerging fall blooms, the arrangements will reflect both the current plants' season of flowers and flowers which suggest and direct to the upcoming season. Concurrently, the plants also symbolize the present and the future.

The Ohara School's well-known Moribana will mingle both current, lingering summer and early fall flowers and branches to echo both present and future. Focused primarily on seasonal flowering plants, Rimpa (or Rinpa) arrangements are clearly in the present, and neither in past nor future, inspired by the decorative arts like the magnificent and well recognized iris screen paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries. Besides seasonal present and future flowers and branches, the Bunjin Heika composition incorporate some of the desk tools of Chinese literati of the 17th and 18th centuries. Composed in a tall vase with Chinese styling, the arrangement, will be made with plants of Asian origin, accessorized with items which might be on the desks of thoughtful scholars. 

Haiku is a short form of poetry originating in Japan which typically uses common
language and simple uncomplicated images to convey emotion. A haiku poem is
the sharing of a moment of sensory illumination which carries a subtle yet
often profound emotional resonance. Ikebana uses carefully selected blossoms, greenery, and other flora to convey a specific feeling or emotion to an observer – just as a haiku, painting or sculpture might.

In a slide show I will show examples of different forms of haiku bringing this ancient form into current practice. In Japan, haiku are traditionally written as a single line, while haiku in English often appear as three lines, although variations exist. The 5/7/5 rule was made up for school children to understand and learn this type of poetry. I will share some of my recent haiku and haiga which have been published in journals. Haiku and visual art in combination are called haiga. This form is the closest to what we will be doing in combining our arrangements with haiku.

I will also create one arrangement and write a haiku.

October 22 Workshop

There is no charge for this workshop

In this workshop you will have the opportunity to get inspired by your own
creative spirit and marry two Japanese inspired art forms. Bring your own gathered materials and container. You can select a haiku online and create an arrangement inspired by the haiku expressing something that touches your emotions. Or think about something you would like to celebrate for example, a birthday, anniversary, holiday, etc. and write your own haiku. Finally, we will have fun sharing our creations.

In the image I was thinking about Ukraine. The white stork is their national bird.

photo - "white stork walks for peace"