CONTEMPORARY IKEBANA AND ITS TRADITIONAL BACKGROUND

Ikebana is the Japanese art of floral arrangement. Many famous masters have developed and refined this art over the centuries and it is full of symbolic content and is strongly intertwined with the cultural and philosophical traditions of Japan. It is much more than a mere decorative art. This rich background makes Ikebana so different from Western floral art, and it is the main topic of this book.

Autorentext
Ayako Graefe (née Yasuda) was born and raised in Japan. During high school she spent one year in New York with an AFS scholarship. After returning to Japan she studied at Nanzan University in Nagoya and obtained a bachelor's degree in Cultural Anthropology. In parallel to her study she took Ikebana lessons and acquired a teacher's diploma from the Sogetsu School of Ikebana. She continued her graduate study at the University of Hawaii and at the University of Auckland in New Zealand with an East West Center scholarship and received her master's degree in Polynesian Linguistics. At the University of Hawaii she met her husband, a German physicist, Dr Volker Graefe. In 1969 they moved to Germany and soon she started teaching Polynesian linguistics there and working on Japanese art collections in museums and galleries. She also began teaching Ikebana.Ayako Graefe (geb. Yasuda) ist in Japan geboren und aufgewachsen. Während der High School verbrachte sie mit einem AFS-Stipendium ein Jahr in New York. Nach ihrer Rückkehr nach Japan studierte sie an der Nanzan-Universität in Nagoya und erwarb einen Bachelor-Abschluss in Kulturanthropologie. Parallel zu ihrem Studium nahm sie Ikebana-Unterricht und erwarb ein Lehrerdiplom der Sogetsu School of Ikebana. Sie setzte ihr Studium an der University of Hawaii und an der University of Auckland in Neuseeland mit einem Stipendium des East West Centers fort und erhielt ihren Master-Abschluss in polynesischer Linguistik. An der University of Hawaii lernte sie ihren Mann, einen deutschen Physiker, Dr. Volker Graefe, kennen. 1969 zogen sie nach Deutschland und schon bald begann sie dort Polynesische Linguistik zu unterrichten und an japanischen Kunstsammlungen in Museen und Galerien zu arbeiten. Sie begann auch Ikebana zu unterrichten.