The present day florists are largely inspired by art forms of the past which influenced the western world. Thus keeping that in mind, two of the most popular forms of Contemporary flower arrangements are the Chinese and the Japanese school of flower arrangement.
Chinese Flower Arrangement
It has been widely documented that the Chinese were the first people in the world to put cut flowers into a container of water. It seems that they were quiet impressed with the fact that ‘life’ of the flowers could be preserved or extended by placing them in a container of water. Over time they began to add leaves and foliage to these containers to enhance the beauty of the flowers. Chinese flower arrangements include the influence of the highly colored, erect and masculine element ‘yang’ combined with the delicate fern like element ‘ying’. Thus it seems pretty clear that the Chinese flower arrangement attempts to reflect the perfection of life which can only be attained by achieving perfect harmony of contrasting natures, in this case the male and the female elements, the ‘yang’ and the ‘ying’
The rather popular list, where each month had its own flower, is inspired by the Chinese. They have symbolic meanings for different types of flowers, for instance, Bamboo represents longevity, constancy and fidelity, and peach blossoms represent youthful beauty and charm.
Japanese Flower Arrangement
The Japanese grasped the Chinese concept of preserving flowers in water with so much enthusiasm that different schools under different masters were created. In the sixth century a Japanese emissary to China bought back the knowledge of how to preserve life in cut flowers by inserting them into a container of water. Thereafter different schools of floral arrangements started cropping up all over Japan whether it was in temples or the Emperor’s palace. While the Chinese arrangements reflected dimensions in space, the Japanese were trying to reflect heaven, man and earth. This was done by placing tall flowers on top with foliage representing the heavens, the smaller flowers at the bottom representing earth and ferns in the middle representing man as the link and balance between heaven and earth. The most popular school of Japanese floral arrangement is Ikebana which has further been divided into five different schools namely, Rikka, Nageire, Shoka, Moribana and Bonsai.
Both the Chinese and the Japanese took flower arranging to a level of meditation. They treated it like an art form that inspired contemplation and went beyond the boundaries of ornamental or ceremonial purposes. Therefore till date they are said to be the leaders in the art of flower arrangements.
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