生け花 ikebana Flower Arrangement

生け花 (ikebana): flower arrangement, flowers kept alive.

生け花 names three things at once: the act of setting cut branches and flowers in a vessel, the arrangement that results, and the art itself. The flowers are cut, yet the word calls them alive. The art reads it more boldly: the arranger gives a cut branch back the life it had on the hill. Whether you hang it where you arrange or give it to someone who studies the art is yours.

The word joins 生ける, to keep alive, to 花, flowers; it is first known in a movable-type print of the flower manual 仙伝抄 from the years 1615 to 1644, whose colophon claims a transmission going back to 1445, and there it names flowers set in a vessel, one kind of arrangement beside others, a sense it kept until at least the end of Meiji before it came mostly to name the whole art.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 生け花.

Your scroll is brushed when you order it and completed within 1 to 3 business days. It ships by USPS Priority Mail from Master Takase's studio in Washington State, boxed and ready to hang, with a printed page giving the art's English, romaji and Japanese.

Sending it as a gift? Tell us when you order and we will include your message.

Shipping is calculated at checkout from your address; within the United States it is $13 to $22. We ship worldwide, and any import charges for your country are shown at checkout before you pay.

Every order is covered by our 30-day money-back guarantee. If your scroll arrives damaged, or we made an error, we replace it or refund you in full, including shipping. Refund policy

Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase brushes your scroll by hand when you order it. Each scroll bears her red seal, 英利, and her signature.

The scrolls are 12 1/4" W × 43" H (31 × 109 cm) with real silk borders and Japanese paper that are layered so the scroll hangs straight and will not warp over time. The scrolls themselves are made by Sankō (株式会社三幸) in Gifu prefecture, which has been making high quality scrolls since 1947, and we have worked with Sankō for over two decades.

Eri Takase was born and raised in Osaka, Japan, and holds the rank of Shihan, the highest rank in Japanese calligraphy, from the Bokuteki-kai and the Bunka-shodo. About Master Takase