Ikebana (living flower) is the floral art practiced in Japan since 800 b/c. It is also called kado (path of flowers). The term do means doing something for life, and indicates an apprenticeship that has no end. Like other arts in Japan, kado conjugates the subjective variations of emptiness Ma (space, silence, duration).

We can find news about the Ikebana since the 15th century, and it is to from the 17th century when this art reached its peak thanks to Ikenobo Senko, whose family developed its work, from 1545, in Sento-Gosho, residence of the Emperor of Japan, in Kyoto.

Flower arranging, as it is expressed in Japanese, is to bringing flowers to life or restoring the life of flowerss. It does not simply mean arranging flowers in an elegant style 2 but to give the flowers back their vitality.

Composed of fresh flowers, the ikebana is located in the tokonoma -a privileged place in the main room of the house-, next to the art: a calligraphy, a painting or some other valuable object.

If in Japan works of art come to light only on occasion and are displayed in the tokonomaIs the floral arrangement or ikebana Is it capable of introducing a change of frequency in the perception and generating a more subtle vibration in the observer's consciousness? Are these ikebana A means of tuning the spirit, a nexus that allows access to the experience of apprehending art?

From March 2020 to September 2021 - arranged in the book in chronological order - these ikebana have been born and generated in turn the poetry of Miguel Angel Mendo, in a rhythmic correspondence that could be called music. The metric used is that of the haiku 5-7-5 but, like the flower arrangements, its content is free, not orthodox.

The flower containers come from the workshop of the ceramist Carme Balada, in Barcelona and from old family souvenirs.

In 1933, Mirei Shigemori, Teshigahara Sôfû, Nakayama Bunpo, and others published the New Ikebana Manifesto.

The New Ikebana rejects nostalgic feelings. It cannot to find nothing alive in the nostalgic. The unique beauty of nostalgia is that it allows you to sleep peacefully.

The New Ikebana rejects formal fixation. Creation always produces fresh shapes. The fixed shape is like a tombstone. 

The New Ikebana rejects moral principles. Ikebana is not a religious dogma or an invented morality. If it is anything, it is art.

The New Ikebana rejects the limits of botany. Ikebana is an art and is not at all a herbarium, nor a didactic method of teaching botany. botany. Plants are their only and most important material.

The New Ikebana freely use the flower containers. We do not accept any limitation or restriction associated with the use of the vase. The bowls can even be carefully made with our own hands or in collaboration with a good craftsman. The bowl must be coherent with the new spirit; we must give new life to old objects and thus revive them.

The New Ikebana is constantly developing, it does not have a standard formula. It adapts to the lifestyle of our time, but always linked to an artistic conscience. It is not an ancient and traditional pastime, nor does it possess a metaphysical existence detached from life.

Our work is radically different from that which arises from prejudice and blind obedience to conventional Ikebana. The new spirit will emerge with a completely new appearance.

In 1949 Mirei Shigemori founded the research group Byakutoshaa non-school-affiliate of ikebanawhere the break with tradition is precipitated through this small but decisive hinge element.

In the hallway, that vulnerable and venerable place, a place of transit and border between inside and outside, live, next to the orchids, the floral arrangements that last as long as the flowers and the flowers do.
branches. No matter that they are sometimes withered, they offer a temporary counterpoint to the new arrivals. Sometimes the change between a ikebana and the next one is very subtle, just a slight addition.

I feel that these flowers are revolutionary, they were born as a response to a captivity and announce a rupture, an explosion.

Small gifts. Miguel Angel Mendo

When Alicia invited me to write a poem for each of her ikebanas, I thought that they could have no other metric structure than that of haiku, although, as with her floral compositions, they did not have to adhere to the orthodox classical Japanese spirit either.

I do believe I have allowed myself to be infected by an important principle in his philosophy: to dispense with prejudices and ideologies, even interpretations, because haiku does not judge, but only confirms or exalts, like everything we can link to Zen and Taoism. On the other hand, I am convinced that the wise rhythmic sequence that imprints the syllabic structure 5-7-5 of the three verses of haiku, produces when reading them (even in silence) a very special kind of breathing, a pranayama that by itself favors a wonderful state of receptivity and openness to surprise, mystery and mysticism that hides the everyday.

It is evident that the exercise of containment and brevity required by this poetic structure implies a certain difficulty, since it demands a precious effort of synthesis. And where there are few words there is no room for rationality, which is one of the purposes of poetry, if not the primary one.

I would just like to add that, before reading the accompanying poem, I would like the reader to focus on observing each image long enough to freely and personally receive its deep and profuse beauty. Then, afterwards, the poem can be seen as just another proposal.