INTRODUCTION
something of the others. All these schools, with but one exception, Kyo-fu, differ only in the non-essentials, the principles are the same throughout. Each school, however, has different names for the principles and places the flowers in the vases in a different order. The kubari or support, which holds the flowers in place in the vase, is also made and placed differently by each school, and there are other slight differences, but the main principles are the same in all.
Ike-bana, the Japanese word for flower arrangements, means living flowers and explains by its derivation the fundamental principles of the grouping. Without some knowledge of its history it does not seem possible to get into the proper spirit for working out the true beauty of these arrangements, so in these pages is given a concise history of the different schools and their dates; as age counts for so much in Japan that the followers of the more modern schools are looked down upon with scorn by the adepts of the old schools.
