Celebrations for the New Year in Japan is solemn, quiet and meditative so that one can make reflections of the past year, pray or establish new thoughts for the next year. The arrangement should be joyful and high-spirited but it should also remain dignified snd restrained.
Rikka New Year's arrangement, @ikenoboys
The New Year's Ikebana arrangement or festive arrangements often uses pine, a material that often renders an arrangement ceremonious. Pine itself refers to eternal youth and longevity, pine used alongside peony symbolize youth and prosperity, pine with bamboo signify prosperity and peace, pine chrysanthemum, orchid or lily stand for joy.
Red and white branches and flowers are also often use to resonate with the two colors in the Japanese flag. Popular materials in red include winter berries, altissimo roses, red dogwood; popular materials in white include Ornithogalum, Freesia, white peony and lily or calla lily. The Mizuhiki, a special paper cord (often comes in the color of gold, white, green and red), used in New Year's Wreath also appears often in New Year's Ikebana arrangement.
Different kinds of New Year's Ikebana Arrangement
A simple New Year's arrangement, Kawase Toshiro
New Year's arrangement, @les_fleurs_de_colza
New Year's arrangement, Katerina Mezhekova
New Year's arrangement, Kikoh Migita
Do it at home
If the forms above are too complicated, the below arrangement might be more doable at home. This simple arrangement is completed with two pines standing for Shin and Soe with the berries in the lower right standing in for Tai. Narcissus are then inserted as Ashirai (meaning supplementary stems) to add white to the arrangement. This is the basic pattern for Shoka Shofutai.
Mizuhiki in gold used in New Year's Wreath
Below is another Shoka arrangement of pine from the Saga Goryu School that is popular during the New Year's and is easy to practice at home. Stemming from the philosophy of the school to unite flowers and religion, visual and spiritual pleasure, the arrangement is rather minimal to allow one to focus on the basic form and to meditate. It is a Gyakugatte arrangement, meaning left-hand arrangement, in which the shoe extends to the right rear and the tai to the left front. (In Hongatte, meaning right-hand arrangement, the sole extends to the left rear and the tai to the right front. That would be the arrangement above.) The arrangement looks simple but it definitely takes time to bend the branches to the right angles. As always for Shoka, leave two to three inches of Mizugiwa, "water's edge," visible from the container's edge to show the bare stems. Finally, add a knot of mizuhiki to the arrangement to add the celebratory colors!
Check out our Instagram profile for more inspiration and festive arrangement work by other Ikebanists!
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