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INTRODUCTION
AFTER long travel through India, Ceylon, and China I was more deeply impressed than ever that flowers are a greater factor in the life of the Japanese than in that of any other nation.
When I returned to Japan, my study of the art of flower arrangement for years convinced me that the Japanese held in this art knowledge of value to Western peoples. Following this art from youth has given the Japanese an idea of proportion, taught them the power of concentration, and one might almost say imbued them with many of their finest traits of character. Aside from the gain of beauty in the results of these floral arrangements and the advantage of prolonging the life of flowers so arranged, I am sure that all who may be led
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