INTRODUCTION 



selves more attractively as the final result of 

 closer application to this art. 



With each return to Japan, I have longed 

 to become a convert to one school of flower 

 arrangement in particular. Still the deeper 

 I probe into the numerous schools I find it 

 utterly impossible to advocate any one school 

 exclusively. There is good and valuable in- 

 formation to be found in them all. The 

 various schools of flower arrangement are like 

 the different creeds of the Christian religion: 

 agreeing in the essentials and only disagreeing 

 in the non-essentials; the points of difference 

 creating the possibility to form new schools. 

 On occasions I have found myself narrowing 

 down to the research of one school, when 

 suddenly I have had my attention called to 

 some principle or suggestion from another 

 school, so practical and valuable in enhancing 

 the beauty of the arranging of cut flowers, 

 that in spite of the assurance of the many mas- 

 ters at whose feet it has been my privilege 

 to sit, that their particular school contains 

 all the virtues, I cannot honestly agree with 

 them. I have narrowed down after many 



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