HISTORY OF IKE-BANA
flower arrangement. Yoshimasa finally abdicated the throne in order to devote his time to the fine arts. It was he who said that flowers offered on all ceremonial occasions and placed as offerings before the gods should not be offered loosely, but should represent time and thought. Rules then commenced to be formulated.
It is to the celebrated painter Soami, a contemporary and friend of Yoshimasa, that the Japanese attribute the new development, for it was Soami who conceived the idea of representing the three elements of Heaven, Man, and Earth, from which have grown the principles of the arrangements used at the present day. It was at Yoshimasa's Silver Pavilion in Kyoto, where the cult of Cha-no-yu, the tea ceremony, and Koawase, the incense ceremony, may be said to have been evolved that the art of Ike-bana received its great development.
If we follow the taste of the artists of this day, known as the Kano School, Sesshu (1421-1507), Sesson, Masanobu, Motonobu
