JAPANESE FLOWER ARRANGEMENT 



which it is thought to have sprung. In 

 fact, what Captain Brinkley so aptly wrote 

 in regard to the tea ceremony — "although 

 the embryo of the tea ceremony came from 

 India, its full-grown conventions as practised 

 by the Japanese could not be recognized 

 by the land of their origin" — applies as 

 well to Ike-bana. 



China alone shows a faint impression left 

 by its influence in its hideous funeral bou- 

 quets — masses of brilliant flowers on short 

 stems, crudely and tightly put together much 

 as our bouquets were arranged several gen- 

 erations ago. The Chinese also lay claim to 

 an exquisite basket for holding flowers. But 

 this basket is so Greek in outline that 

 there is considerable doubt as to whether it 

 is Grecian or Chinese. 



By natural outcome from the Buddhist de- 

 sire to preserve animal life came the desire to 

 preserve plant life. It thus came to be one of 

 the occupations of the priests to arrange and 

 care for those plants and flowers which were 

 the most popular of all offerings to the gods. 



[22] 



