HISTORY OF IKE-BANA 



the art. Finally a most valuable book 

 was written by Ikenobu, called Kandensho. 

 This was carefully written and very instruct- 

 ive, with rules and principles freely given. 



In the Kenei Age Rikkwa was simple 

 and natural, with no extreme curves, but in 

 Genroku the lines of the arrangement be- 

 came complicated and the forms pattern- 

 like. This was an age of utmost elegance. 

 All the fine arts were highly developed, above 

 all pattern-printing for fabrics and decora- 

 tion. In the later part of the seventeenth 

 century Korin, the famous lacquer artist 

 and essentially a creator of exquisite designs, 

 strongly influenced Ike-bana. At this period 

 the combination of a pattern or design in 

 flower arrangement, with lines which followed 

 the natural growth of the plant, produced 

 the most pleasing and graceful results. 



It was in this later part of the seventeenth 

 century that Ike-bana was most practised 

 and reached its highest degree of perfection 

 as an art. Still there were occasional back- 

 slidings into unnatural curves and into arti- 



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