Art of Chabana: Flowers for the Tea Ceremony

By Henry Mittwer

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
• Release date: Mar 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9781462912254

Book preview

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,