03-13-19 Visiting Professor Nishuike Workshop

To quote one of our board members, Toby Schmich, “the venue was lovely, the weather was beautiful” and our visiting sensei Yusuke Takabayashi made our day just perfect (if you don’t count some of our pussy willows taking unplanned jumps out of our shoka arrangements).

We learned about the floral patterns of shoka (from narrow to widest), and the combinations of floral materials (from branches to grasses to flowers), and methods of combining them and harmonizing them with the vase being used.

Then we set to work with our pussy willows and mums to create a two-material shoka. The room got very quiet as we concentrated. Our very talented professor seemed to be able to turn a stem or two; add a flower here and there and make our arrangements come alive and “express their hidden inner strength.”