Flower Arrangement Art of Japan

Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Company. Very Good. 1954. Popular Reprint Edition. Paperback. B&W Illustrations; This is a trade paperback book. The book is in Very Good condition and was issued without a dust jacket. The book and its contents are in clean, bright condition. There is some bumping and creasing to the corners of the book covers. The text pages are clean and bright. "The pastime of viewing plants and appreciating flowers throughout the four seasons was established in Japan early on through the aristocracy. Waka poetry anthologies such as the Man'yoshu and Kokin Wakashu from the Heian period (794–1185) included many poems on the topic of flowers. With the introduction of Buddhism, offering flowers at Buddhist altars became common. Although the lotus is widely used in India where Buddhism originated, in Japan other native flowers for each season were selected for this purpose. While in China the Buddhist priests were the first instructors of flower arrangement, in Japan they only introduced its crudest elements. " (from Wikipedia) .