Author Archives: ohararyudc5567

We welcomed Sensei Jose Salcedo, 1st Term Master of Ohara School of Ikebana, for a demonstration and workshops. For the demonstration hosted by the Ikebana International Washington, DC Chapter, he created seven large arrangements to showcase the natural beauty of the Ohara School. In the workshops, we had classes including Hana-Isho Rising, Moribana Upright, Moribana Water-Reflecting, One Row, Realistic Landscape, and Rimpa-cho ikebana. We had wonderful three days!

IKEBANA is one of traditional art forms of Japan. Literally “Ikebana” means living flowers, and essentially ikebana means appreciating the nature and arranging flowers in a container or containers.

The OHARA SCHOOL OF IKEBANA was officially founded by Unshin Ohara in 1912.  The OHARA SCHOOL emphasizes seasonal beauties and natural growth processes.  Students of the OHARA SCHOOL are encouraged  to observe nature.

Unshin Ohara explored fields and mountains in Japan and developed a style of flower arrangement that expresses the beauty of natural scenery.  His effort to include brightly colored flowers being imported into Japan resulted in the use of low, wide containers called “moribana”.  “Moribana” means piled flowers in a flat basin.

Eleven of our chapter members attended the demonstration by Rekha Reddy, 1st Term Ohara Master. This event was organized by Ikebana of Richmond. Rekha also taught a moribana lesson in the afternoon.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus your own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.