Well, continuing from the last time, this is once again about flowers.
In my previous post, I introduced a flower shop I visited during my stay in Japan, but my time in Japan wasn’t just about admiring flowers.
I took the initiative to arrange private lessons with a teacher and learned the basics of flower arranging!
About two months before returning to my home country, I started searching on the internet for people creating wonderful flower pieces and offering lessons. I reached out to about 5 or 6 individuals.
Among them, only one person responded.
Later, when I expressed my gratitude to the teacher for responding, she mentioned, “At first, I hesitated whether to reply or not.”
When I asked, “Why!? Did it seem suspicious even though I wrote in Japanese? 😭” she replied, “It did seem suspicious… 😂”
“It’s because it was a message from overseas, and when I checked your Instagram account, everything was in English. I thought it might be some weird spam,” she explained.
Reflecting on this, I realized I might have been a bit cautious if the situation were reversed.
That’s probably why no one else responded.
“But when I looked at the content of your Instagram photos, it was clear that you’re truly a flower farmer. Also, you introduced yourself properly in the contact email, so I eventually decided that it was trustworthy,” she added.
Phew! I’m glad. Thank you, teacher, for believing in me.
For now, this article is about the lessons with the aforementioned teacher.
(Aside from this, I also had a lesson with another teacher introduced by my mother, but I’ll write about that in the next article.)
I had intensive lessons with this teacher for two days, from morning to evening.
The teaching style was quite strict. When I thought of learning flower arranging, I imagined creating pieces freely and receiving evaluations for them.
However, it was completely different.
I was drilled in the basics, such as how to tie ribbons, how to arrange flowers for bouquets, the names of flower categories, the basic arrangement methods for flower arranging, and the logic behind it.
To put it plainly, it was incredibly educational.
“You didn’t come here for fun; you came as a professional in flowers, so I conducted the class in a strict manner,” the teacher told me at the end.
It was only two days, and it wasn’t possible for the teacher, who had been in the flower industry for 20 years, to teach me everything. However, in the limited time we had, the teacher provided me with a lot of what I needed to learn.
What remained in my heart were these words:
“There are various styles expressed in terms of schools, like the British style or the Korean style. However, no matter the flower artist, they cannot firmly say, ‘Mine is XX style.’
Depending on where you learn and your teacher, you digest that knowledge and always finish it in your own way. That’s why I don’t use the expression ‘what style’ to describe myself.
If I had to say, it’s ‘my style.'”
Her words were like this. She was a gentle woman with both her words and demeanor, yet there was a sense of pride and conviction. She was a truly wonderful teacher.
I hope I can meet her again when I return to Japan for next time.
Finally, here are the pieces I created under her guidance.
Though there weren’t many pieces due to lectures and practice, it was truly the best course, and I’m so glad I took it.