Ikenobo Ikebana: 550th Anniversary Celebration

The Rokkakudo Temple, located in the center of Kyoto, is believed to have been founded by Shotoku Taishi about 1400 years ago. Priests who made floral offerings morning and evening to the Buddhist alter of the Rokkakudo Temple lived near a pond (the Japanese word for pond is “ike”) in a small hut (“bo”). For this reason, people began to call the priests by the name “Ikenobo.” Ikebana began with and was spread by Ikenobo, and from Ikenobo have come many famous ikebana masters.

It was 1462 when Unzen Taikyoku, a Zen monk at Tofukuji Temple in Kyoto, wrote the following in the diary called Hekizan Nichiroku:

“People vied with each other to appreciate the blossoms in a gold vase arranged by Senkei Ikenobo, at the invitation of Shunko.”

This is the oldest extant record mentioning that Ikenobo arranged flowers, and because of this record Senkei Ikenobo’s name remains in history as a master who refined ikebana. The year 2012 will thus mark the 550th year since the name Ikenobo first appeared in historic records. This is the result of the fact that the spirit and art of Ikenobo have continued to be passed from teacher to student, person to person, and that people have continued to arrange ikebana matching the spirit of the times.

- Sen’ei Ikenobo
Forty-fifth Generation Headmaster