Floral Arrangement in japan 
to balance the entire composi¬ 
tion, to which end it is also 
usually longer than the sec¬ 
ondary. Within these close 
limits, there is still room for 
considerable play of choice in 
both line and composition, 
while color is in this case 
ignored. Indeed, one or two 
or even all the members may 
be simply foliage of the same 
hue and tone of green, ike- 
bana being properly synthetic 
designing in line, which, to be 
sure, is a flower-art unknown 
outside Japan. 
What is the force and mean¬ 
ing of this curious Japanese 
flower arrangement ? It is 
not other than the principle 
governing other decorative 
arts in Japan, namely, the 
harmony of balance secured 
without repetition, and it 
marks an advanced stage of 
art-sense. Symmetry, on the 
other hand, secures harmony 
by sameness of shape, as well 
as by equality of bulk, and finds 
its most suitable application 
in architecture, where, indeed, 
the Japanese also recognize it, 
as expressive of dignity and 
repose. Balance, on the con¬ 
trary, spares some degree of 
these qualities, in order to exhibit daring and 
action. In some cases the entire compo¬ 
sition is thrown on to one side of the vertical 
line rising from the centre of the vase, and 
thus the dignity and repose are wholly sac¬ 
rificed to the daring and action. Such a 
composition was perhaps suggested by— 
and it certainly resembles—a contorted pine 
clinging to the side of some bare mountain 
rock, quite a common sight in Japan. Mr. 
Conder’s skeleton plans of ike-bana all con¬ 
form to this unbalanced type, but all except 
three of some forty practical examples he 
gives show balance. There is compensation 
in art as well as in life, and this asymmetry 
—whether balanced or unbalanced—has its 
own meaning and beauty, certainly for Jap¬ 
anese minds and eyes, though possibly not 
1 PRINCIPAL ’’ POINTS N E 
CARDINAL DIRECTIONS FOR JAPANESE 
FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS 
yet for ours. In any case, asymmetry ex¬ 
hibits that forceful vitality which is native 
to every normal growth, and it is for this 
reason that the Japanese have named the 
practice ike-bana, that is, living flower. 
This simplest three-lined composition may 
be enlarged to a five-lined one by insertion 
of a so-called “support” between the prin¬ 
cipal and the secondary, and of a “sub-prin¬ 
cipal” between the principal and the tertiary. 
. Still two more stems may be introduced as 
shown in the diagram of cardinal directions. 
Each new pair must differ in length from each 
other, as well as from the original members, 
in order to secure pleasing variety. Together 
with this profile composition must go one in 
plan, the variety of which is indicated in the 
same diagram of cardinal directions. 
I2 7 
