CHAPTER TWENTY 



SYMBOLISM IN FLOWER 

 ARRANGING 



THE keen enjoyment of symbolical de- 

 signs in this Flower Art is shown 

 by the wonderful details of such 

 decorations. The shapes into which the 

 flowers are bent, as well as the forms of 

 the vases and flower stands, represent ob- 

 jects which have been made familiar to all 

 through history, legend, and romance. 



Besides the intense fondness of nature 

 constantly referred to, the Japanese also 

 possess a love of the humorous and an 

 almost restless desire for variety. This fond- 

 ness for variety is nowhere more strongly 

 shown than in the unsymmetrical balance 

 of forms in flower arranging. 



These symbolical groups do not represent 

 this art in its simple pure form, and there- 



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