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So, why do people breed roses anyway ? For lots of reasons. In our experience,
most people's reasons are an amalgam of reasons such as: to earn a living; to
carry on a family business; for a hobby; out of appreciation of the rose's
beauty and/or fragrance; for the thrill of the chase, trying to conceive what
potential rose might come out of a union of 2 roses, and to then try to "pull
it" out of their union, much as a sculptor "pulls" a statue out of a lump of
stone; for an intellectual challenge, to employ genetics in an attempt to
"engineer" a desired rose; from of a spirit of play, to whimsically join 2 roses
and to unreservedly delight in what discoveries might issue forth.
Last year, I attended RIRS' morning workshop on Ikebana-style arrangements,
taught by Mrs. Donna Fuss. I found the simple elegance of the Ikebana style to
be congenial, and an interest in it has slowly grown since then. I began to
wonder what might be distinctive about roses bred by Japanese breeders.
Considering their other industrial & cultural achievements, I had high
expectations. But, due to constraints imposed by my life responsibilities, this
had to be a survey, not a serious inquiry. It was therefore disappointing to
find not so very much about them. Certainly, there are a good number of Japanese
breeders and nurseries, including the Keisei Rose Research Institute and the
Itami Rose Nursery. Seizo Suzuki (at Keisei) is a very prominent Japanese
breeder, whose more familiar roses include: French Perfume, Gipsy Carnival,
Kuroshinju (a black-red HT which we fell in love with at the Montreal rose show
a few years ago), Mikado, and Pi¤ata. Other familiar Japanese bred roses include
'Nozomi,' Todoroki, Prima Donna, and Ferdy. But all this fell short of what I
expected of this major culture.
My continuing interest in Ikebana has sort of nudged together various ideas
which I have encountered in the meanderings of my life. When I was younger, I
took some classes in Karate, and later in Aikido (which I much preferred); and
some of the culture "rubbed off." Later, I took acupuncture treatments for a
while, and a little more of the culture rubbed off.
For years, I enjoyed the TV program "Kung Fu" (with "Little Grasshopper"), and a
little more of the culture rubbed off (filtered thru Hollywood, of course).
In pondering my surprisingly scanty findings on Japanese rose breeders, some
ideas have presented themselves. Perhaps, the Japanese are more interested in
the peony, the lotus, & other flowers. Perhaps, their interest only extends to
using species roses such as Multiflora for Bonsai.
These may be accurate ideas, but I believe that there is more. I suspect that
for many Japanese whose hearts are drawn to working with the beauty of flowers,
a cultural sensitivity to the spiritual or metaphysical aspect of the endeavor
helps to guide their approach.
One of the most prominent contemporary Ikebana masters wrote "Through the act of
arranging flowers, one can realize Gods' blessing that pervades all the
universe, and will be given eyes to see his own road to life." Senei Ikenobo,
March 1962 (From www.ramalila.net/Adventures/ZenArts/Ikebana.html)
Ruth Grosser, teaches Ikebana at an AIC University in Australia. On her website
(http://www.ikebana.com.au/ruth/), she expresses some of this:
"Her style has become a synthesis of the traditional ..(and).. modern (Japanese)
combined with her own Artistic Sense; based on the Western Arts of Painting,
Sculpture and Colour Design. Her message in Ikebana is that all arrangements
should have a sense of beauty." "We have a choice between the ugly and
beautiful, the confined and the free; We can choose the path to develop a sense
of beauty in our lives or we can do the opposite." " There are many artists in
all the various forms of art who have chosen the opposite in these times as a
means to shock and develop notoriety, their base works are made for 'news' and
for 'business advertising' ........they are not true art". "In Ikebana we have
the materials to develop great works that are capable of lifting the human
spirit and the process of constructing Ikebana allows us to be one with nature,
to focus, to relax and renew the positive senses of our humanity". These
sentiments are not necessarily foremost in the minds of many Western hybridists,
especially the commercial ones.
Ruth Grosser's site also had an unattributed quote: "Ikebana has influenced many
artists. The Samurai and Zen Masters discovered the essence. Your mind and body
are relaxed. The whole self is centered on the art." This quote prompted me to
dig up a flyer I had obtained many years ago. It relates a true incident from
Japanese history. As a young man, Morihei Uyeshiba, saw his father beaten up by
political thugs. He consequently committed himself to "Budo." Loosely
translated, this refers to the way of the warrior, the Samurai, and martial
arts. He spent years in mastering these pursuits, but he never felt fulfilled.
Eventually, he had what Abraham Maslow would call a "peak experience." Uyeshiba
later recalled:
"I was able to understand the whispering of the birds, and was clearly aware of
the mind of God, the Creator of this universe. At that moment, I was
enlightened: the source of Budo is God's love - the spirit of loving protection
for all beings. Tears of joy streamed down my cheeks.
Since that time I have grown to feel that the whole earth is my house, and the
sun, the moon, and the stars are all my own things. I had become free from all
desire, not only for position, fame, and property, but also to be strong. I
understood: Budo is not felling the opponent by our force; nor is it a tool to
lead the world into destruction with arms. True Budo is to accept the spirit of
the universe; keep the peace of the world; correctly produce, protect, and
cultivate all beings in Nature. I understood: the training of Budo is to take
God's love, which correctly produces, protects, and cultivates all things in
Nature, and assimilate and utilize it in our own mind and body." Morehei
Uyeshiba was the founder of Aikido; and, he often said that "Budo and farming
are one."
Nothing in the Human experience, no insight or sensibility, is exclusive to any
one group or culture. I remember reading of an old American priest who, in his
zen-like wisdom, observed that, "birds do not fly because they have wings; they
have wings because they fly." Nonetheless, different things do tend to be
emphasized in different groups or cultures.
And so, I am left to wonder: Why have the Japanese gifted us with proportionally
fewer famous roses than we might have expected ? I am sure that they have "kept
their eyes on the prize."
Is it because they had a different prize ? Is their prize to seek out such
things as harmony, unity, and the "true nature" of the rose, rather than to seek
our prize of novelty, distinctiveness, long straight stems, and commercial
success ?
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