Ginza is a fascinating town, frequently linked with special moments and fond memories. Visits to department stores while holding tightly to a parent’s hand, afternoons in old-fashioned cafés run by one-of-a-kind characters, first dates in special restaurants . . . Ginza is a place like no other.

Hanatsubaki’s “Ginza Memoir” series, hosted by Yoshiyuki Morioka of the iconic Morioka Shoten bookstore, explores the multifaceted nature and universal appeal of Ginza through interviews with guests from a wide variety of fields. With Morioka as guide to Ginza’s hidden charms and diverse narratives, new discoveries await around every corner.

Our fourth guest for “Ginza Memoir” is Shuho, who bears the slightly unusual title of hananofu, describing someone who tends to plants.

As the first general manager of flower affairs, or hanagata, at Jishoji—known as the “Temple of the Silver Pavilion”—Shuho spent a decade studying flower arrangement during the time of Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436–1490) before going independent in 2015. She is now active in Japan and around the world, particularly with her work of offering flowers to nature and to the divine.

On the day of our interview, she prepared a standing arrangement of flowers, known as tatehana, in the new office of the Morioka bookstore in the 1932 Okuno building, one of Ginza’s best-known retro structures.

The komiwara, a bundle of dried rice straw placed in the vase to hold the flowers; the stems briskly cut by shears; the water filling the vessel to the brim . . . Shuho worked with a ritual-like poise and tranquillity that changed the mood of the room completely. Not a single wasted movement was evident. However, she says, she never arrives at such an event having already decided how to begin her arrangement. Once the space and vessel are provided, the rest decides itself.

But even Shuho, today a master in her own right, was once an apprentice tasked with carrying the bags of a teacher. And one of her most striking memories from those days was of an encounter right here in Ginza . . .

A Historic Encounter in Ginza Between Two Giants of the Flower World

Morioka: I believe you have some connection to the florist Nonohana Tsukasa in Ginza Sanchome.

Shuho: Yes. I visited the store as a student assistant to Kozo Okada [one of the most renowned flower arrangers of the Showa period, and a researcher of the classical Way of Flowers]. We dropped by either before or after visiting an antique store, but at the time I had my hands so full simply keeping up that I don’t remember which store it was.

Morioka: Do you have any memories of Ginza from that period? Meals with Okada, for example?

Shuho: I do have one very vivid memory. Once, after visiting an antique store, Sensei and I stopped by a small upstairs gallery overlooking Ginza Dori. I believe it was a calligraphy exhibition, but I don’t recall the gallery’s name. [Avant-garde ikebana artist] Yukio Nakagawa happened to be sitting on the bench there. The two men had known each other for a long time, but Sensei simply glanced at him without saying a word. Then Nakagawa said, “Ikebana is heading in a terrible direction in today’s Japan. Please take the lead.” Sensei remained silent, but acknowledged this with a nod. People used to speak of the world of flower arrangement being “Okada in the west and Nakagawa in the east,” and I can still remember the sight of those two titans side-by-side.

Morioka: It sounds as if he was passing the torch of Japanese flower arrangement to Okada. Their positions may have been different, but did they share similar goals?

Shuho: Tradition and the avant-garde sound like exact opposites, but I believe both of them perceived the same essence, and that was certainly the sort of instruction I received. I was never told “You must do such-and-such” when practicing ikebana or tatehana. Both masters had their eyes fixed on life and death. When you return to the starting point of ikebana, there are no set forms. This is only logical, of course, when living beings are concerned.

Feeling the Voice of the Flowers Through Her Fingertips

Morioka: Watching you create that tatehana arrangement just now was a deeply moving experience. It made me sit up straighter without even realizing it. I was also struck by the scar on the camellia, which seems to suggest the coexistence of perfection and imperfection.

Shuho: Flowers are living beings in the natural world, so I view them just as I do humans or animals. This means that I do not restrict myself to “perfect” flowers. I see beauty also in flowers that are starting to fade, or have been nibbled by insects, or are not yet fully mature, and use them just as readily. This brings the axis of time into the arrangement in various ways.

Morioka: The flowers contain past, present, and future. Does this mean that tatehana is a way of uniting disparate times and spaces?

Shuho: Yes. From the very first willow branch, the arrangement is connected to space-time in various ways.

Morioka: I see. Using a willow feels appropriate for Ginza, too.

Shuho: Well, the important thing about the arrangement is the unseen parts inside the vessel. Even the part most worth seeing is the waterline a few centimetres from the vessel’s mouth. This is what you focus on when arranging the flowers—you begin from the waterline, then raise your line of sight to take in the arrangement as a whole. The waterline is the threshold between the unseen and the seen—the other world, and our world. This makes it a nexus of energy.

Morioka: I noticed how carefully you scraped and cut the base of the boughs you put into the komiwara.

Shuho: I make the ends that go into the komiwara as thin as possible to keep them centred. That allows them to stand straight up, and preserves their innate nature. The word tameru is used today to refer to reshaping boughs and blossoms to suit a planned design, but flowers already have a perfect natural beauty, so I keep them as they are and make any needed adjustments invisibly, below the waterline. This is the meaning of tameru. The more closely your approach the origins of ikebana, the stronger the influence of this idea becomes on your treatment of the flowers.

Morioka: You prepared many flowers for today’s event, but I notice you do not use them all. What do you rely on when choosing which to use?

Shuho: I always arrive without any preconceived idea for the arrangement. After meeting the other people present and considering the space and the vessel, the matter decides itself. The flowers seem to call out, “Here I am! Use me!” You might have noticed that I picked up the bud-like camellias first, but when I added them to the arrangement something felt off, so ultimately I used the camellias in full bloom. I try to gather information with my fingertips, looking at the flowers as little as possible.

Morioka: You don’t use your eyes?

Shuho: Overusing your eyes increases the risk of being distracted by the visual side of things, or swept away by preferences and emotions. I use my fingertips to gather the information I need, such as how to arrange the parts of the bough below the waterline as I described earlier. When I cut, the boughs and stems seem to tell me, “Here,” and I simply obey.

Morioka: Do you mean that you hear the flowers speak?

Shuho: I don’t actually hear them. I think it’s more a matter of practice. I’ve practiced more times than I can count, and so my experience tells me exactly where “here” is. Even so, there are times when I doubt the flowers [i.e., myself]—Should I really cut it that short? But when I try cutting it a little longer, I see that the original location was actually correct, so I apologize and cut it again.

Continued in Part 2

Hananofu Shuho
From 2004 to 2014, acted as first general manager of flower affairs at Jishoji (the Temple of the Silver Pavilion), spending a decade showing how flowers were used to decorate rooms in the age of Ashikaga Yoshimasa and reconstructing the Muso Shinko school of flower arrangement founded in the mid-Edo period. Planned and hosted workshops at the temple’s research centre, and planned and executed international exchanges around the theme “peace and culture.”
In 2015, established the Seirensha and embraced her life work as a hananofu of offering flowers to nature, the divine, and people, promoting richer lifestyles through flowers via Kaho no Kai gatherings. Also collaborates with traditional and contemporary creators in Japan and around the world in fields such as Noh, contemporary art, music, crafts, and architecture.
In 2024, established the Yushinkai NPO and became its representative director. The organization is chiefly concerned with tracing the history of tatehana from the Ami tradition of the Muromachi Age, which allowed the spirit to play in serenity, and researching and recording the spirituality, art, and technique of ikebana. Strives to create opportunities for learning about the beginning, establishment, and development of ikebana, along with related fields of study, art, and performance, and to cultivate the next generation of practitioners.

Major published works:
Flowers of Jishoji of the Silver Pavilion: Creative Nature (Tankosha)
Ippongusa: A Single Stem (Tokuma Shoten)

https://www.hananofu.jp/ja/top/

Yoshiyuki Morioka
Born 1974 in Yamagata. Head of the Morioka Shoten bookstore. Writer. Published books include Around Ginza in 800 Days (Bunshun Bunko) and Forgiving the Shortcake (Raichosha). Also active as an art curator, with recent shows including Children and Radiation, the second stage of an exhibition held jointly with the University of the Sacred Heart (October 30, 2003–April 22, 2024).
https://www.instagram.com/moriokashoten/?hl=ja

Sogo Hiraiwa
Editor/writer
Born 1990 in Takayama, Gifu. Freelance editor and writer contributing regularly to literary, cultural, and fashion magazines. Also involved in planning and editing books, including the Japanese edition of Octavia E. Butler’s Bloodchild and Other Stories (trans. Hikaru Fujii). Translator of Virgil Abloh’s Dialogues (Adachi Press).
https://www.instagram.com/sogohiraiwa/

Nathalie Cantacuzino
Photographer
Born in Stockholm, Sweden. Studied Japanese culture and photographic technique in Tokyo. Shoots in genres ranging from fashion to documentary and lifestyle.
https://www.instagram.com/nanorie/