CHAPTER TEN 

 ARRANGEMENT OF BRANCHES 



NO more satisfactory effects or more 

 charming results can be had than 

 in working out Japanese rules with 

 branches of trees. Here, as in all other 

 arrangements, the Japanese prefer to follow 

 nature. We, not so much from ignorance 

 as lack of thought and time, take branches 

 from trees where they have been growing in 

 a horizontal position and place them in a 

 vase in a perpendicular one, with the leaves 

 standing up and facing to the front instead 

 of flat and spreading as they grew. The 

 Japanese have, of necessity, to let the main 

 stick stand upright. In this position it forms 

 the trunk of the tree, and the smaller twigs 

 are twisted into the form of its branches, 

 thus making a small branch of the tree 

 appear as a whole diminutive tree. 



[113] 



