Japanology Plus

Seasonal plants and flowers
presented beautifully.

This Japanese tradition
is called “ikebana.”

Nicoleta Oprisan, from Romania,
is an ikebana artist based in Tokyo.

Her work has been featured in
department stores and hotel restaurants.

She sometimes creates giant installations

that offer a sense of luxury and elegance.

One of her admirers handles
PR for leading brands.

Her style is...
has a vibrant liveliness and also elegant.

So that's why I like her style a lot.

Oprisan, who speaks six languages,

sees ikebana itself as a unique
way to communicate.

Today, ikebana artist Nicoleta Oprisan
tells us about the appeal of this art form,

and its role as a universal language.

Hello, and welcome to Japanology Plus.
I'm Peter Barakan.

Today we present one of
our Japanophile profiles.

It's a point of pride
among Japanese people

that this country has four
distinctly defined seasons.

Although with global warming,
that's becoming something of a moot point.

Nevertheless, Japanese people are very
sensitive to the changing of the seasons,

which are perhaps symbolized more than
anything by the different flowers you see.

For example, the cherry blossoms behind
me signal very much the coming of spring.

Our guest today is an ikebana artist,

and I think it's perhaps best
that I go and meet her

and we find out what it's all about.

Hello. Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you too.

Please do come in.

Thank you.

Thank you for having us today.

Thank you for coming.

Lovely.

I was fully expecting to
see something like this.

Do you normally have an arrangement?

Yes. There's always flowers
in the house, one way or another.

For centuries,
Japanese have showcased the beauty

of seasonal plants and
flowers in artful displays.

Ikebana is among Japan's
leading cultural traditions.

Much like formal dancing
and the tea ceremony,

ikebana is more than just
a cultural activity.

It is a meditative experience
with an emphasis on etiquette.

In Japan, floral displays date
back to the arrival of Buddhism

fifteen hundred years ago.

Eventually ikebana became
a feature of everyday life.

A special alcove called the tokonoma was
the setting for floral displays in homes.

Ikebana is a word that I'm sure lots
of people are familiar with to an extent.

Perhaps, though, you could give us
a simple explanation of what it is.

I think we should probably expand
the word ikebana to “kado.”

Okay.

In the Western world, ikebana used
as such, as the word ikebana.

But sometimes it is translated into
Japanese: flower arrangement.

Which kind of pits it against
the Western flower arrangement.

If you refer to it
as the umbrella term, kado,

I think we give it a bit more justice

because kado is intrinsic
to Japanese culture,

and it embodies not only flowers

but also the journey one
takes to reach that goal.

And that kado, the do,

the road, the path, the journey,

exists in shodo. Sado.

So way, when we use the translated terms,

they look like disparate entities,
if you wish.

It's tea ceremony and calligraphy
and then we have ikebana.

But if we use that term that encompasses
the Japanese culture a bit more,

I think it's easier to start explaining
the term as a journey through the flowers.

And this journey will take you to probably
hopefully to discover yourself.

This is probably a fairer explanation
of what ikebana stands for.

Oprisan uses her skills as an ikebana
artist to create arrangements that

complement every space in her home.

Today, she wants flowers
for the front entrance.

- Good morning.
- Welcome. Hello.

In ikebana, branches and stems
may be just as important as flowers.

Many flower shops stock a wide
range of ikebana elements.

- How about this?
- I like it very much.

Oprisan has selected red azalea.

Making good use of branches, greenery,
and all the other elements of plants

is a feature of Sogetsu, one of
about 300 ikebana schools in Japan.

Oprisan teaches this approach,
which celebrates freedom of expression.

Here, she places green leaves behind
the dynamically positioned azaleas.

She completes the display
with several white flowers.

Tell us about this display.

Today I wanted to...
to show the beauty of spring.

Obviously when we think spring,
we think Sakura.

Sakura trees are very shy this year.

So instead, we'll use
this beautiful azalea.

And I think the pairing with white
is quite beautiful, and Japanese.

I also like to present them
in this beautiful tsubo vase.

And I think the combination
of not only chromatically,

but also the type of flowers,
very wild and soon to open,

and also very elegant and classy.

They make a very good match.

And I think they fit
very well in this piece.

Ohayo gozaimasu. Good morning.

Good morning.

Tokyo residents of various
nationalities study with Oprisan.

Hello. Good morning ladies.

Hello everybody.

I'm going to join your class today.

So today we're going to work
with creating our curved lines.

The materials we have are the dragon claw.

It's type of a willow,
so it's really bendable as a material.

It already has a curving itself,
and it looks beautiful as it is.

It does, doesn't it?

Yes.

But if we curve it even more,

we can even go to the extreme.

Whoa.

You can use this.

Oh, even like that?

So the possibilities are endless.

Are endless. Indeed. Yes.

Now is your turn.

Okay.

Do not worry about how
to fix or how it looks.

Do not put a lot of rational into it.

Just create it, you know, as an impulse.

As it comes.

Okay.

Today, the theme is “curves.”

Oprisan always tries to give advice

that's specific to each student
and the material that they're using.

Would you like to have a heart shaped...?

Okay.

So would you like to
connect them together?

I think so, yeah.

Okay.

May I help?

Yes, please.

Ah, okay, we can go back
through here. I see.

Normally the flower has
a tendency to droop.

Right.

So in its droopy stage is
a little bit more, you know, sad.

So this way, if we turn it the other way,

we see it with an uplift.

So it looks nicer.

In order to emphasize perhaps this line,

I could maybe cut this,

and then I will have a beautiful,
curved line.

Oh, I see.

So you can basically cut off anything
you want to at any time?

Yes.

There are no rules about that at all.

No.

Okay. Let's see.

We might need some little jari to cover.

It looks very nice.

Yeah, and just...

Yeah. So a little bit here.

Maybe this one because it's touching...

Exactly.

Using the same materials to
express the same theme,

each student nevertheless
produces a unique arrangement.

Here, you can see actually
the profile of flower.

Whereas here you see
the front of the flower.

You know this is my first time so
I think if I had too many other things,

I'm probably going to ruin it.

I tend to like simplicity anyway.

So generally, you will have flowers and
some kind of a flowering plant, I suppose.

And branches.

Is it usually a combination
of those different elements?

Usually, yes. Yes.

We can see there's three things.

Line, mass and color.

Lines are usually given by the branch.

Mass is offered usually by the leaves
and the green materials we add.

Okay.

And color, usually the flower.

Okay.

Nicoleta Oprisan was born
in Bucharest, Romania.

When she was a child,

her father would read stories
to her in French and German.

She developed an interest in languages.

She went on to study Japanese
at the University of Bucharest.

Was there a reason why you
wanted to do Japanese?

Well, I grew up surrounded by languages.

My father spoke English,
French and German fluently.

So it was very normal to hear
all sorts of languages at home.

But also, he was the one
who encouraged me to find a different path

and just not necessarily follow
the mainstream road.

Probably because I wanted to create,
to be different, in a way.

So then I had a chance to meet
a fantastic teacher...mentor, actually,

who helped me to, start learning Japanese.

And my teacher told me,

if you can understand this first couple
of lessons in this book in Japanese,

and you come back to me
with the lessons learned,

then I will help you.

In...probably in my arrogance,

I assumed that, you know,
languages are similar in a way,

and you can link them with
another language that you know,

and it can't be that difficult to memorize
something in a short period of time.

And I did go back with the book,
and I struggled.

It was very different.

I couldn't link Japanese to
any of the languages I knew.

Right.

So therefore it was all brand new.

I had to learn and to create
my own connections from zero.

Japanese is an SOV language,
so you'll have the verb at the end,

meaning that your way of thinking
is also different when you speak.

Right.

You don't know if the verb
is positive or negative

until the very end of the sentence.

That's true. Or if it's a question or not.

Right.

Inspired by her father
and that special teacher,

Oprisan can now speak six languages:

Romanian, English, French,
German, Korean, and Japanese.

Her life-changing encounter with ikebana

came when she was studying
in Tokyo in 1999.

After completing graduate school,
she got a job in Japan.

In 2007,

she began studying Sogetsu Ikebana,

and in just two years,
she became a teacher.

Since 2016 she herself has
been guided by Ishikawa Misei,

a teacher who promotes
ikebana internationally.

We asked Ishikawa what Oprisan
is like as a student.

She's very serious.

That comes across even in
a brief conversation with her.

In Sogetsu Ikebana, we explore
the possibilities of the materials.

If you have a rose, what aspect
of the rose do you focus on?

How should you display the leaves?

There are so many options.

Nicoleta has a gift for exploring
the various possibilities.

And she tries very hard to
find beauty in each material.

That uncompromising passion is evident.

What impressed me the most was the fact

that you can express a lot
by using just one flower.

Mm hmm.

We don't necessarily look at flowers
that are only beautiful flowers.

We can use branches. We can use leaves.

You can use flowers,
or even dried materials or wilted flowers.

As long as you can find the inner
beauty of that particular material,

then you can express yourself in
a whole new way with the help of flowers.

So probably that was the first
thing that attracted me.

And secondly is probably
my linguistic background.

I noticed

how much you can express

of your own emotion
and your own feel with just flowers

crossing all the barriers
of language and culture.

Everyone can express,
everyone can resonate

with an arrangement in a way or another

if you can convey that emotion.

For instance,
even love or care or nostalgia.

There is so many things
that come together,

they depict a slice of yourself
when you create that arrangement.

If you're calm and zen and relaxed,

your arrangement will
probably take that form.

If you're really tensed and stressed,

the arrangement will show it
in a contorted way.

And I think it's very interesting

to see how people resonate with
what you're trying to convey.

Mmm.

And I don't think that ikebana's
or kado's role is to

necessarily give these emotions
on a platter for people to see.

It's just to deepen the mystery

and perhaps just pluck that resonant
string and let it resonate further

and see how people engage
with it and how they feel.

So you were you were starting to get
interested in non-verbal communication.

Do you know why that was?

Was there a frustration with not being
able to get things across with words?

No, actually,
it started with my small children.

Oh.

I realized that if,
in whatever background they are,

in...with whoever they play,

language is not important for them.

They could easily communicate
with every other child.

Each one in their own language.

I think this was the moment
when I realized,

yes, we do speak languages,
sometimes they are useful.

We are in situations
when we can't speak the language.

What do we do then?

We still communicate.

We struggle mutually to convey something,

and the other will struggle to understand.

And I think this is when, when,
when I started thinking about language

and how we can actually narrow it all down
to the so-called universal language.

And I think this is what for me,
is what gets translated into flowers.

Because I feel that with flowers,
I can express myself,

and someone who doesn't speak
my language can perhaps resonate with it.

Right.

Yeah, you mentioned a universal language.

People often refer to
music in the same way.

But it's interesting
that flowers could take that place.

That's fascinating.

Oprisan has a gift for creating dynamic,
large-scale pieces.

Her work has been displayed
in department stores,

famous hotel restaurants, and at events.

Here's the CEO of a company that promotes
international luxury brands in Japan.

She's a fan of Oprisan's work.

Many people has a different style,
of course.

But her style is...has a vibrant
liveliness, and also elegant.

So that's why I like her style a lot.

But she has a basic understanding
of Japanese culture,

and inside, you know, through
the language of the...Japanese skill.

So that's
why I really feel like, you know,

I don't have any border
to understand each other.

Very easy to work with.

Oprisan creates displays
for international gatherings in Tokyo.

- Long time no see!
- Yes!

Come in.

Today she's going to discuss a display

for an upcoming party
at the Turkish Embassy.

So in terms of flowers.

So, of course, Turkish rose. You love it.

Yes. I love it, yes.

And then tulip is also
originally from Turkey.

Not Dutch.

So that's kind of a good story is behind.

What would be the your kind
of style for the event...

they are going to sitting
down for the meals,

so I would like to have a table
flower like this, but more broad.

Right, right.

Having something as a hobby,

you can do what you want,
when you want, any time.

When it becomes your work,

very often they go to say, well,
we want it done in this way or this way.

Do you get those sort of requests as well?

To a certain extent.

I think I still have artistic freedom
in most of the creations,

but quite often I tend to be
restricted by different spaces,

by different backgrounds.

If the arrangement needs to be on a stage,
or in a shop window, or outdoors,

I have to take into consideration
several factors when arranging,

but also when selecting the materials.

Okay.

And that maybe changes a little bit
that initial impulsive moment of creation.

Right.

But please bear in mind that
even if there is an image and a sketch

and a general idea of
what the arrangement will look like,

everything happens on the spot.

So the moment I arrange, that's the moment
when it's just me and my bubble.

And that's the moment
when creation actually happens.

That is the hobby part of it.

Okay. Okay.

So if you're doing an arrangement
for a restaurant,

will you actually do the creation
in the restaurant?

Always.

Not only on the venue, but in the spot
where the flowers will be enjoyed.

But once you've created it, it's got
to last for the best part of a week.

Yes.

Which means that you can't have the
flowers wilting after a couple of days.

No, no.

And you cannot have
anything falling down onto.

Right.

Do you actually come in to make sure
that everything looks good,

looks properly...?

I always do maintenance for the
arrangements that have to stay for more.

Okay.

So it's quite labor intensive in that way.

It is. It is.

That that is probably the part of it
that is more business than hobby.

Okay. Yeah.

And you do everything yourself?

Yes. Yes.

Well I do have people...assistants
for big undertakings like this.

But everything...the concept,
the ordering of flowers,

the...everything is...
the prototype, the design,

everything is done by myself. Yes.

Okay.

So when you are doing an arrangement,

especially for a public space,

will you think about
putting in elements that will

draw a reaction
from the people that see it?

Yes, always.

Okay. So that's something
you actually think about.

Yes.

There is a lot of thought and
there is a lot of preparation

that goes beyond an event of this scale.

And nothing is random.

All the elements are chosen with
a particular purpose in mind.

It does...it probably does look
natural and as free as nature is.

But every single detail is pre-planned.

Every week, Oprisan holds an online
class for students in Romania.

The idea for this class

came from the professor
who taught her Japanese at university.

Each student brings along local,
seasonal materials.

What materials?

Oh.

Yes, very pretty.

Oprisan believes her linguistic skills

can help expand ikebana's
international fan base,

so she's planning to teach
more online classes.

I try to perfect teaching ikebana online
so that it matches that style as well.

Because when you teach and you have a,
you know, a physical presence,

then flowers look different.

But when seen through a camera,

then you have to adjust angles
and you have to rotate

and you have to show in a different way.

So I try to take that into account
when I teach online.

And as kind of a thank you
from me for that university

and as a lovely way of meeting
all my students,

I accepted the invitation of going
to Romania for this event I created.

And it was coupled with a lot of workshop,

ikebana workshop with my students,
and ikebana exhibitions by them.

That was actually the main reason
why I wanted to create this,

this friendship across borders.

But interesting too that ikebana can
be done not necessarily in Japan

and not necessarily
with Japanese materials.

And I guess also you're also
using imported flowers here.

Yes.

So it really doesn't matter
which flowers you're using.

It's all about what's in here.

That's true.

Or in here.

That's true. Both.

The last question of these Japanophile
shows is always the same one.

It's: What is Japan to you?

Japan to me is home.

It's home.

It's really where my heart belongs.

And this is where I started
to embark on this journey.

And I'm looking forward to see
where the path is leading me.

Okay. Short and sweet.

Thank you very much.

Thank you too.