January 18th, 2025 Aspidistra Workshop with Jeanne Holy

    • Aspidistra, Shoka

We welcomed traveling sensei Jeanne Holy for a packed workshop weekend. The first Saturday morning workshop was well received. 23 Ikenobo members and guests attended this fun and informative isshuike lesson. But first, club advisor Linnea Storm awarded certificates to Lisa Schleier (Level 1& 2) and Yuki Kataoka (Level 10). We also welcomed our newest member, Geraldine Mahoney.  Welcome to Geraldine, and congratulations to Yuki and Lisa!

Jeanne first spoke about the differences between shofutai (traditional form) and shimputai (modern form), the shussho (characteristics) of plants, and the importance of the mizugiwa. She then continued the lesson with several detailed, hand-drawn pictures. She turns out to be a wonderful artist, too!  The first was about how plants grow and point their faces towards the sun. The second was how aspidistra (cast iron plant) grows with one side wider than the other, making each leaf either right or left-dominant. She then spoke about how the leaf presents a front side and a backside to the sun and how to tell the difference. The last drawing showed a seven-leaf aspidistra arrangement with color coding front/back and left/right to better explain how the classical arrangement is arranged. She then allowed the students to make a five-leaf (a bit simpler) or a seven-leaf creation.

Since this is a shoka-style arrangement, she also touched on the placement of each leaf in the kenzan (sakaguchi) and how they are best seen at an angle instead of straight on.  A clean mizugiwa is always expected.

Then we were all set loose with two bundles of aspidistra each to sort and make decisions before any leaf was placed. Left, right, front, back, shin, soe, tai, ashirai. As confusing as it seemed, everybody went home with a beautiful arrangement after being checked by Jeanne. Thank you Sensei!