【Flower Growing Knowledge】The Differences Between Flower Art, Flower Arrangement, and Flower Arrangement
"Flower art" is the abbreviation of flower art. Flower art refers to the arrangement and combination of flowers through certain technical techniques to make flowers more pleasing to the eye, express a kind of thought, reflect the perfect combination of nature and man, form the unique language of flowers, and let the audience interpret and feel. "Flower arrangement" refers to using cut plant branches, leaves, flowers and fruits as materials, and through certain technical (pruning, pruning, bending, etc.) and artistic (conceptualization, modeling and coloring, etc.) processing, re-arrange them into a delicate, beautiful, poetic and picturesque floral art that can reproduce the beauty of nature and life. Therefore, it is called the art of flower arrangement. "Flower art" refers to flower arrangement in a broad sense. "Ikebana" is the method and technique of appropriately cutting branches, leaves and flowers of trees and flowers and inserting them into vases and other flower containers, which can give people artistic and beautiful enjoyment. In short, it is the art of flower arrangement. Flower Arrangement In the long history of human cultural development, although the art of flower arrangement has a long history, its creation and appreciation are instantaneous. Before the invention of technology such as photography and video, it was only a short-term artistic expression. Therefore, there are very few works handed down. The research on its origin can only rely on unearthed cultural relics or fragmentary records in various historical materials. In addition, few people have conducted research in the past, so it is difficult to draw a definite conclusion today. Here we only briefly introduce several theories about the origin for reference. At present, there are two aspects of the discussion on the origin of flower arrangement art. One is from the original form of flower arrangement art, and the other is from the origin of flower arrangement art. The original form of flower arrangementThere are two views in this regard. One is that it originated from the offering of flowers, and the other is that it originated from folk customs.oneThe current popular theory is that it originated from Buddhist flower offerings. There are two reasons for this: one is from the Japanese flower arrangement community, and the other is from Buddhist scriptures.1. The Japanese flower arrangement community believes that the Japanese flower arrangement art developed from offering flowers to Buddha, and then developed into today's flower arrangement through the process of offering flowers → palace flower arrangement → folk flower arrangement. With the development of Japanese flower arrangement art, many people went to Japan to learn flower arrangement, so the origin of Japanese flower arrangement was promoted and the theory that flower arrangement originated from Buddhist flower offerings was circulated.2. Citations from historical books and Buddhist scriptures. Currently, many books quote the section about flower arrangement in the Southern History, which is considered to be the earliest record of the sons of Emperor Wu of the Southern Qi Dynasty. In the Southern History, there is a section about Prince Mao of Jin'an: "When he was seven years old, his mother Ruan Yuan was critically ill, and she invited monks to perform rituals. Someone offered lotus flowers to the Buddha. The monks filled copper pots with water and soaked the stems, hoping that the flowers would not wilt. Zi Mao shed tears and worshiped the Buddha, saying: 'If this can make my aunt happy, may the Buddhas let the flowers not wilt.' After seven days of fasting, the flowers were brighter red, and there were some roots in the pot. People in the world praised him for his filial piety. "This record of offering lotus flowers to the Buddha is considered to be the origin of flower arrangement from Buddhism.3. In addition, there are indeed provisions for offering flowers in Buddhist scriptures. There are records of "flower offerings" in Buddhist scriptures and "Book of Wei". "The Sutra of the Origin of Practice" tells a story about flowers when the founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni, became a Buddha. "Book of Wei·Records of Buddhism and Taoism" states: "After the Buddha passed away, his body was burned with incense and wood, and his spirit bones were broken into pieces... They were called 'sarira'. Disciples collected them and placed them in treasure bottles, and offered incense, flowers, and respect." The Eastern Jin monk Fa Xianxian also mentioned in "Records of Buddhist Countries" that wherever he went, there were people offering flowers. Flower offering is the first of the six kinds of offerings in Buddhism, which shows that Buddhism attaches great importance to flower offering. There are three main forms of Buddhist flower offerings: dish flowers, picking flowers, and scattering flowers.twoOriginating from folk customs, this is a broad definition of flower arrangement, which believes that the original form of flower arrangement is hand-held flowers that never use utensils and flowers worn on the body (head).Flowers are beautiful things bestowed by nature to human beings. People have been keeping company with flowers in production activities for a long time. Flowers make people feel trust and comfort, and can communicate with each other. People wear flowers (leaves) as amulets to drive away evil spirits and keep safe. Later, they gradually developed into a kind of decoration to show their beauty and charm, and gave them to each other to show their love and longing. This is a spontaneous behavior. Although it is permeated with some superstition, it is not caused by a certain religion, but is just a psychological reaction caused by people's confusion about the mysterious universe.For example, long before Buddhism was introduced, people had the custom of offering sacrifices and giving flowers. The earliest legend is in the Classic of Mountains and Seas: On Mount Dushuo in the East China Sea, the gods Na and Yulei caught ghosts. The Yellow Emperor set up a big peach man at the door, painted two elephants, a tiger, and a reed rope to ward off ghosts, and later generations all imitated it. This is a story from more than 4,000 years BC. The Book of Songs is a collection of folk poems from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties to the Spring and Autumn Period before 470 BC. In the Book of Songs·Zheng Feng·Later, Qu Yuan wrote in "Chu Ci·Nine Songs": "The jade seats are covered with jade, why not pick the fragrant flowers?" "He" means to put together, which means to put bunches of flowers in front of the throne. Isn't this close to the form of flower arrangement? ! "Chu Ci·Mountain Ghost" describes the mountain god as wearing flowers and green, and picking flowers to express his thoughts: "Wearing stone orchids and Duheng, picking fragrant flowers to express his thoughts." Although Qu Yuan borrowed the topic in "Thinking of Beauty", it also shows that people at that time had already had the habit of picking branches of flowers for appreciation. "(Evil) Dabo's fragrance, plucked the wild grass of Changzhou, I am not as good as the ancients, who can play with this fragrant grass with me?"Another example is the plum blossom poem by Lu Kai of the Jin Dynasty: "I picked flowers and met a postman, sent them to a man in Longtou. I have nothing in Jiangnan, so I give you a branch of spring." It is natural to put the flower branches given by friends in a water container, which is the origin of flower arrangement art. All of these existed before the introduction of Buddhism.Buddhism was introduced relatively late. According to historical records, it was not until Zhang Qian of the Western Han Dynasty went on a diplomatic mission to the Western Regions that he first heard of the teachings of Buddha (i.e. Buddha). In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Indian monks Kasyapa Matanga and Zhu Fa came to Luoyang in 67 AD at the invitation of the Han envoys. Emperor Ming built the White Horse Temple for them and asked them to translate the classics, which started the spread of Buddhism in China. At that time, Confucianism still dominated, and Buddhism had little influence. During the Three Kingdoms period, Wei created the trend of pure discussion, and the study of Buddhism dominated the country.In the Western Jin Dynasty, Buddhism was dependent on learning and could not develop independently. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the social status and influence of Buddhism exceeded that of metaphysics. It was not until the Southern and Northern Dynasties that Buddhism became popular. Later, it declined for a while, and it was not until the Sui Dynasty that it became popular throughout the country. Therefore, the original form of flower arrangement art cannot be said to be derived from Buddhist flower offerings. Buddhist flower offerings are just one form of flower arrangement. Flower Arrangement "Flower arrangement" refers to using cut plant branches, leaves, flowers and fruits as materials, and through certain technical (pruning, pruning, bending, etc.) and artistic (conceptualization, modeling and coloring, etc.) processing, re-arrange them into an exquisite, beautiful, poetic and picturesque floral art that can reproduce the beauty of nature and life. That's why it's called flower arrangement art."Flower art" is flower arrangement in a broad sense. More precisely, it is the traumatic activity of using cut flowers and other decorative materials to create artistic shapes, which can also be called cut flower art modeling. Therefore, its creative principles and artistic expression techniques are basically the same as those of flower arrangement art.The differences between them are: (1) Flower arrangement must be placed in a container, but "flower art" can be placed without a container. It can be hung on the wall or placed directly on the table.(2) Flower arrangement must use plant materials, while "flower art" can use many non-plant decorative materials in addition to plant materials, such as metal, glass, plastic, cotton and silk fabrics, etc.(3) Flower art is more extensive and freer than flower arrangement in terms of material selection, conception, and modeling. It is especially widely used in large-scale exhibitions and competitions. The modeling tends to be large-scale and very imposing, which is incomparable to flower arrangement. flower arrangement The so-called "flower arrangement" is the method and technique of appropriately cutting branches, leaves and flowers of trees and flowers and inserting them into vases and other flower containers, which can give people artistic and beautiful enjoyment. In short, it is the art of flower arrangement. "Ikebana" in Japanese refers to flower arrangement. "Flower arrangement" and tea ceremony are also one of Japan's unique traditional arts.Like tea ceremony and dance, Japanese flower arrangement also originated from ancient times and has been integrated with local culture for thousands of years. Inherited to today, the art of flower arrangement in ancient times has been simplified to flower arrangement in a vase, while Japanese flower arrangement has been developed into a beautiful art that transcends nature.Japan is located in the temperate zone. Although the temperature in the south and north of the narrow country is very different, the climate is generally warm and pleasant, and the changes in the four seasons are very obvious. With the passage of the 24 solar terms, there are several representative flowers every month. This natural environment has cultivated the Japanese people's dialogue with nature, which is a reflection of their outlook on life and has a certain reason.The origin of flower arrangement can be viewed from both the ornamental and religious perspectives. According to documents, there were records of indoor cherry blossom displays in the Heian period. There were also records of flower shows in the early Muromachi period in the 14th century. Flower shows were an entertainment gathering where nobles, monks, etc. were divided into two groups to display their flower arrangements, and the quality was evaluated and competed. While evaluating the flowers, the rare flower vessels used were also the focus of attention. This kind of flower show gradually became a public exhibition in the 15th century, which can be said to be the prototype of today's Japanese flower arrangement exhibitions.On the other hand, along with the introduction of Buddhism, the custom of offering flowers was also introduced. In the Kamakura period, there were five pieces of utensils called "five utensils" as decorations in front of the Buddha, which referred to the incense burner, a pair of candlesticks and a pair of vases. In the Muromachi period, it was simplified to three pieces, called "three utensils", namely the incense burner, candlestick and vase. In ancient times, this kind of vase with three flowers representing the Dharma and the monks inserted neatly was called "three-son style". Later, this kind of flower offering gradually separated from religion and became an indoor decoration, and developed into "standing flowers".
