On Sunday, 17 November, 3 teachers from the Wellington Sogetsu Ikebana group, created a small display as part of Hutt Japan Day. Hosted by the Hutt Minoh House Friendship Trust, the event aims to celebrate and strength Lower Hutt's bond with its sister city Minoh in Osaka. This is the second time this Festival has been held, but the first time Sogetsu have participated.
The event was held in Lower Hutt at the Dowse Art Gallery, on the plaza outside and in the neighbouring Town Hall. Various local Japan related groups performed during the day in the plaza area, including Taiko drummers and dance groups. The Town Hall hosted a group of traditional performers who the Embassy had arranged to visit from Japan for the Festival. They played the Koto, performed dances and created calligraphy around the theme of the “Tale of the Genji”, a classic Japanese novel written around 1000 years ago. Stalls selling traditional Japanese food and goods, were inside the Dowse function room and this was where our Ikebana display was.
After registering to participate in the event, the instructions were rather sparse…. one table, in the main function room of the Dowse. We were familiar with this venue as in 2016 we had held an exhibition there on the theme of “recycled materials” There was no theme for the arrangements this time, mainly as the display was going to be so small. Elizabeth, our senior teacher, agreed to be exhibition coordinator. There is currently no one teaching Sogetsu in the Hutt so we could not call on local Sogetsu people to participate. Happily, Kathy and Adriana, who live in neighbouring suburbs, agreed to do an arrangement each.
Arrangements by Kathy, Adriana and Elizabeth
Elizabeth created two arrangements from flowers from her garden……Sweet Peas and Agapanthus buds in a traditional Japanese basket, and purple toned Foxgloves and Alstroemerias in a nageire vase. Kathy’s arrangement featured new flax flower heads which echoed the yellow of her stunning sunflowers, while Adriana’s arrangement featured orange Gerberas, yellow alstroemerias and maple. These arrangements were all displayed on black tablecloths with our Sogetsu banner on the white background wall.
It is always hard for organisers to get the layout of tables and activities right in a venue, to facilitate easy flow and movement of people. Unfortunately, our table location turned out not to be in the best location. Double exit doors on one side let in bursts of wind which dislodged our large banner and name tags, but we managed to sort this with judicious pieces of sticky “blu-tack”. The other issue was that our table was located next to a small performance space. When this was used, people stood behind the allocated seating, which was unfortunately right in front of the ikebana table, so no one could see the arrangements. We also have a running joke about inappropriate signs behind our ikebana displays and this time it was a lovely red and white fire extinguisher notice.
The event went from 11 till 3 o’clock and despite the very windy weather, and threatening rain, large crowds did turn up. Elizabeth and Kathy chatted to many people during the day, and handed out our Sogetsu brochures. Despite being small, the display sparked a lot of interest and added to everyone’s experience of Japanese culture. There were many activities to see in all three areas during the day and the event organisers are to be congratulated on a very successful event.
Julie Middleton
