Japan Embassy to hold Ikebana workshops from March 11
By Mona Khan

ISLAMABAD—Embassy of Japan will organize a series of Ikebana workshops in different cities of Pakistan to promote this centuries old Japanese style of flower arrangements. The workshops are being organized from March 11 to 13 in collaboration with Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA) and OPF Girls College, Islamabad to promote this art among women especially the students.
Japan Embassy in Islamabad has been organizing Ikebana workshops regularly during the spring season in Lahore, Peshawar and Islamabad for the last many years. This year Ms. Ratna Guhan, an Ikebana expert from Sogetsu School, Tokyo, has been invited to conduct Ikebana workshops in Islamabad and Lahore. She would conduct Ikebana demonstration at PNAC Gallery on March 13.
Ikebana, which literally means “flowers kept alive,” developed into a distant art form in Japan in the 5th century, and is now practiced all over the world including Pakistan. The attention given to choice of plant material and container, the placement of the branches, and the relationship of the branches to the container, the placement of the branches, and the relationship of the branches to the container and surrounding space has distinguished this art from purely decorative uses of flowers. The fragrance of flowers and artistic skill with a creative approach gives spiritual as well as aesthetic pleasure to the viewer in this form of art. Then flowers do not look like flowers but a piece of art. Today, there are approximately 3,000 Ikebana schools in Japan with 15 million to 20 million students, mostly women between the ages of 18 to 26.