ホモテナシ

• 茶花 very different from the artistic 生花.
• Surprisingly unregulated for something 茶-related!

• Buddhism started practise of offering flowers, initially (600 AD) two flowers to the left of the altar and two candles to the right; then in 室町 just one each.
• Priests started to make them just for fun (in the very large room, obviously, so the arrangements themselves were quite large and the 花入 used obviously all Chinese).
• In XVI then rooms and thus flower containers became smaller, with one or two blossoms being used

• 利休: Cut fresh green bamboo for a vase, pour clear water into it and, with pure heart, put in a fresh flower.
• Naosuke: Flowers capture 一期一会: A flower only lasts for a brief moment.

• Flower container is always on the side towards 下座; unless you got a 真 scroll, when it might be put in the middle.
• 宗旦 build a room called 又隠 which has the peg on the wrong side. This is because 宗旦 liked to make tea for himself and wanted to look at the flowers (LK 23)
• Placement of the hooks (measured above the floor) (LK 23)

➡️ When you show flowers and scroll at the same time, the flowers shouldn't be higher than the scroll.

• 利休: First contemplate the flower, then pick the vase.
• Vase should be simple, so that the flower remains the focal point (LK 23)

➡️ If you got a 花入 that doesn't fit into this distinction (like glass, 楽 or 竹; or sterling silver), you put it on a round 丸香台

🧺 Baskets, which are only used in summer, go directly on the floor (but of course, people break this rule to elevate their baskets)

🛹 If your 床 is not floored with 畳, but instead has a board (making it an 板床), then you don't need any boards; you put all the flower containers directly on the 床板.

• しゅこ: No conscious effort when arranging flowers
• 利休: Pick one or two cuttings of the same flower, maybe add some 'soft fullness'
  • According to 南方録 one blossom for the small, two for the big room.
  • LK 23 said it should be one or two, or an uneven number of flowers (including grasses)
  • Not more than 3 colours
• 利休: 花は　の　に　ある　よ　に「The flower should be as it is in the field」
• LK 23 go a bit more into depth:
  • For the 花入, it makes it a lot easier if you put one or even two horizontal stalks in there. Like this the flower doesn't have to lean on the rim of the vase, which is nice.
  • Make sure it's a green stalk and not a dry one that will expand in water, otherwise you might crack your vase.
  • For the 花, cut them in water, then leave them in water for at least an hour so they become happy.
  • Prepare more flowers than the guest needs for 所望
  • For the 花台, wet it and dab it dry; a towel under the flowers makes sense, so you can prevent dripping on the 畳
  • Pick a flower up, hold it between your fingers and release the pressure slightly to see how it wants to fall. This is how it should be “in the field”
  • Hold it next to the vase, and consider the point of view from where it will be seen. It might look shit from the side, but nice for someone sitting in front of it.
  • Taller things to the back, duh; all faces the front. Often a main flower, and a secondary (姫) flower.
  • To cut, knife from underneath the stem, thumb on the other side. Twist the end of the stem down, then pull the knife. Put the cut end on the right bottom corner of the 花台
  • Place it with one breath (but adjust a bit, if necessary)
  • If you're not doing 花所望, spray them a little bit. Take a towel with you, so that you keep the spray from getting on the 床. If you're doing it, spray the flowers before putting them on the 花台.
• Brown parts and bug bites are okay; better to leave them than to cut part of the leaf.

• 利休: In 1567 did a 茶事 where he had the guests return after 中立 to find an empty flower vase with some water in it. 利休 explained to his guests to imagine the flower; and CQ41 describes this as the ultimate 茶花.

• Generally, pick flowers that are a little closed, if you can find them (LK 23)
• 利休 chose short-lived flowers, and forbade the use of long-lived, garish or strongly-smelling flowers such as sweet daphne (Seidelblast), mountain anise (Anis-Duftnessel or Riesenysop), cockscomb; patrinia, pomegranate, candock and marigold (CQ41).
• Naosuke: Don't use rare and unusual flowers. Go outside, look for a flower, cut it.
• For 炉, camelia is the flower, for 風炉, it's the Rose of Sharon (むくげ、Straucheibisch）
• Morning glory a bit frowned upon in Urasenke because of the story of 利休 and 秀吉, but here it's a perfectly fine flower (Larry 23)
• Narcissus, however, works well.

haru no no ni sumire tsumi ni to koshi ware zo
no o natsukashimi hito-yo ne ni keru

I came to the filed to pick violets / but I loved the field so much I've slept there all night; from Yamabe-no-Akihito, ~700 AD

• 花入
• Mittwer's book