2020.12.22 Tue
The International Centre regularly organizes a viewing of Bunraku, Japanese traditional puppet show, in December. Unfortunately, however, we unavoidably canceled the event this year due to the spread of COVID-19.
Instead, we held an online "Kado" Japanese flower arrangement class on December 11. A total of 14 students (9 international and 5 Japanese) participated in the morning and afternoon sessions.
Connected online with the participating students at home, a staff member of the International Centre, who is a licensed instructor of the Omuroryu Kado School, explained the history and culture of Japanese flower arrangement and gave them instruction on how to arrange flowers. In the class, they first learned how to cut branches to the proper length and dispose of unnecessary parts. Then, they experienced part of traditional Japanese Kado philosophy: keeping a subtle balance between the space and depth in a vase and creating a color contrast with flowers. After the class, many of the participants made comments. "It was difficult to cut off unnecessary branches without hesitation," and "It was my first Kado experience and it was fun to learn a lot."