The Colby Echo

Issue date: 4/29/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: japansociety.org

Last week the College's Departments of Music and Art played host to three distinguished Japanese artists, Akiyoshi Kida, Yoko Hiraoka and Sen So-Oku, who are professionals in the disciplines of: flower arranging (ikebana), Japanesae lute (Chikuzen biwa) and Japanese tea ceremony (Mushakouji Senke Chado). These art forms, foreign to many Americans, offered students a glimpse into several of Japan's most delicate and refined artistic traditions.

Kida, a native of Kyoto who began studying ikebana at the age of ten, is recognized throughout the world as a premier master of floral design, which has led him to a trail of celebrity clients, including Princess Diana, Bill Cosby, Henry Kissinger and Julie Andrews. Today, Kida divides his time between assignments in Kyoto, Tokyo and New York City, where his arrangements adorn window displays on Madison Avenue.

At the College, Kida's arrangement, which resided for three days in the lobby of the Art Museum, was inspired by scenes from the Japanese medieval epic The Tale of Heikel. It is common for traditional ikebana to reflect historical and cultural events. Six separate arrangements created by Kida represented six scenes from the epic. The final arrangement, created using pine, hydrangea, snap dragon and weeping willow, represented the final scene of the epic, when rather than be captured by Genji warriors, the infant emperor Antoko and his grandmother (the protagonists) chose to avoid being captured by Genji warriors by drowning themselves in the Bay of Dan No Ura. Each intricate arrangement was uniquely beautiful and engaging.

Kida briefly explained the history of the art form: "Ikebana is an art closely connected to the growth and practice of Buddhism in Japan. It was originally practiced in the 6th and 7th centuries as a way of worshipping Buddha." Since then, it has been embraced and molded by the Japanese aristocracy and Zen Buddhists.
Yoko Hiraoka, master of the Japanese b­iwa, a lute-like string instrument, also depicted the Tale of the Heike during her performance on Thursday evening. In her introduction, Hiraoka counseled the audience by saying, "You will learn a lot by the time you leave tonight, but you must listen to me." She briefly described the Tale's focus as a "power struggle between warrior classes, the Genji and the Heike. The moral is that in the end everything changes, nothing stays the same." Biwa compositions are commonly depictions of medieval Japanese tales centered on themes of love, hardship and battles.

Sen So-Oku, the master of Tea Ceremony, presented a lecture introduction to this meditative art form, followed by a demonstration that involved serving tea to College President, Bro Adams! Adams gingerly mounted the platform and sat down next to artists and students as So-Oku meticulously prepared their tea. So-Oku explained in his introduction that "a major emphasis of tea ceremony is intimacy between those participating." People sit close together and no artificial light is allowed. The art of tea ceremony was developed during a time when rampant conflict characterized Japan, and thus the art form provides a peaceful, calm bonding experience that heals the soul.

All three art forms were characteristic of Japan's refined aristocratic culture. Students and professors were lucky to have the opportunity to immerse themselves in calming artistic performances that contrast with the hustle and bustle of our busy Western lives.

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