Japanese Tea Ceremony - Tea Ceremony and Flower Arrangement

Tea Ceremony and Flower Arrangement

Chabana (茶花?) is the simple style of flower arrangement used in tea ceremony. Chabana has its roots in ikebana, an older style of Japanese flower arranging, which itself has roots in Shinto and Buddhism.

Chabana evolved from the "free-form" style of ikebana called nageire (投げ入れ?), literally "throw (it) in", which was used by early tea masters. Chabana is said, depending upon the source, to have been either developed or championed by Sen no Rikyū. He is said to have taught that chabana should give the viewer the same impression that those flowers naturally would give if they were growing outdoors, in nature.

Unnatural and/or out-of-season materials are never used. Also, props and other devices are not used. The containers in which chabana are arranged are referred to generically as hanaire (花入れ?). Chabana arrangements typically comprise few items, and little or no filler material. In the summer, when many flowering grasses are in season in Japan, however, it is seasonally appropriate to arrange a number of such flowering grasses in an airy basket-type container. Unlike ikebana (which often uses shallow, wide dishes), tall, narrow hanaire are frequently used in chabana. The containers for the flowers used in tea rooms are typically made from natural materials such as bamboo, as well as metal or ceramic, but rarely glass.

Chabana arrangements are so simple that frequently no more than a single blossom is used; this blossom will invariably lean towards or face the guests.