Mazezashi with Weeds
A day prior to commencing Easter vacation, my youngest daughter’s class was put in Covid confinement. For 10 days she wasn’t permitted to leave the house. The day after her confinement ended, our suburb was then placed in lockdown. For the unforeseeable future we cannot leave our suburb, and no one can enter. Just when I thought a trip to the flower market was possible, all hope was dashed.
Once confinement was over, we were eager to reconnect with nature. We took a walk along the bike path close to our house, and were amazed at the abundance of flowers, grasses and leaves. We eagerly collected lots of material for ikebana.
Initially, I had an idea that my daughters could make an arrangement using leaves with a single type of flower. However, the diversity of material and the variety in textures and colours gave me another idea.
In Sogetsu ikebana, one of the styles of arrangements we learn as part of the curriculum is Mazezashi. It is an arrangement comprising of 5 or more materials. Although fullness is important in Mazezashi, so too is lightness and the use of a variety of colours.
To create a feeling of lightness, my youngest daughter used tall weeds to create height and combined them with different coloured grasses to create fullness.
She was excited to be able to use lots of different kinds of flowers. While she remembered to use some flowers to cover the kenzan she needed a little reminder that ikebana is three dimensional and that she should also add some material towards the back of the arrangement for depth.
