HOME AGAIN and STRELITZIA JUNCEA

 

On Friday 24th November I was able to visit the Head Quarters of the Sogetsu School in Akasaka, Tokyo, the day that we left Japan.

From the fourth floor lobby I was surprised to see the towers of Shinjuku rising above the trees in the grounds of the former Akasaka Palace, now the State Guest House in Tokyo. A rather rare view in Tokyo.

On the fifth floor I was delighted to see this large ceramic sculpture "Do-VIII", by Hiroshi Teshigahara, the third Iemoto. I had not expected to see the warm colours of the clay body showing through on the lower part of the sculpture. 

The sculpture was set to the left of this large ikebana arrangement by Master Instructor Suikei Sakaguchi. The materials are: driftwood frame, Balloonplant Gomphocarpus physocarpus and Winterberry Ilex verticillata (a deciduous form of Holly).

Laurie and I were able to have a "farewell" lunch in the mezzanine cafe with seats overlooking the park at the side of the building. Then we caught a train to Narita airport for our return home.

Most of the days have looked like this for the past week. The photo was taken on Jan Juc beach looking west at 8.30 pm last Monday evening. It has been very strange to arrive home to the bright evenings of daylight saving. Not to mention the week of unseasonal rain. For which the garden is very grateful.

So much so that the potted Iris ensata opened late this afternoon.

And...

...the Strelitzia juncea is having its best flowering yet.

I decided to arrange two Strelitzia flowers in a shallow ceramic 1930's bowl by the Tasmanian ceramicist John Campbell. As there are no leaves to speak of on S. juncea, I added a leaf of New Zealand Flax that had started to go yellow. The leaf had a remaining stripe of green in the yellow part and its width gave a bit more substance to the otherwise bare flower stems. I bent the top of the leaf down to strengthen the mass at the top of the arrangement.

Greetings from Christopher

3rd December 2023