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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Flower Arranging: Willow Glen resident Brenda Mosher works on her Ikebana wall-hanging flower arrangement in Fusako Hoyrup's adult education class at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Sunnyvale.
WG gardener participates in Japanese flower arranging
By Amy Jenkins
Why would people from Willow Glen, Saratoga, Los Gatos, and Cupertino drive to Sunnyvale once a week?
How about the opportunity to take a class in Japanese flower arranging--called Ikebana. Many class members say they have followed Fusako Hoyrup all over the Bay Area to take her classes. Born in Japan and educated in the art of Ikebana at the Wafu School, Hoyrup moved to Cupertino in 1969. Shortly after, she started the California Chapter of the Wafu School of Ikebana.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the California chapter and the 25th year Hoyrup has taught for the Fremont Union High School District Adult Education Program. At 64 years of age, Hoyrup rarely slows down. When she is not busy teaching four classes a week, she is buying flowers for class at flower markets and planning for flower shows.
On Oct. 20 and 21 the Wafukai Ikebana Society held an exhibit and demonstration at the bi-annual flower show in Cupertino. More than 127 students in all of Hoyrup's classes participated in the show by making their own arrangements, holding demonstrations and contributing a flower to an 8-foot-wide arrangement called "World Peace U.S.A." The U.S.A. arrangement consisted of pine branches, pyracantha branches, "Casa Blanca" tiger lilies, gladiolus and statice.
Holding the show so shortly after Sept. 11 was a very difficult decision, Hoyrup says. So next to the red, white and blue arrangement she placed a donation box, where they received $500 in donations. The society matched the amount with another $500 and sent the money to the September 11th Fund, established by The New York Community Trust and United Way.
Every Tuesday morning, 24 students gather at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Sunnyvale for Ikebana instruction. Dorothy Ishimatsu, who has taken classes in Ikebana from Hoyrup for 16 years, says she likes the class because "it is wonderful to have flowers in the house."
Students receive certificates as they advance in classes. There are four levels of expertise, with the top being a teacher's credential. Ishimatsu and several other students have reached the teacher's level but do not teach classes.
"As a mother of 5 daughters that live from New Hampshire to California, I like to do this for myself," Ishimatsu says. "It is something just for me, and it is fun."
The Wafu school of Ikebana emphasizes the harmony among the flowers, the vase and the environment in which the arrangement is placed. Ikebana differs from traditional flower arranging because it emphasizes arranging flowers in the way that they grow in nature, Hoyrup says. The Wafu style does not use wires and always arranges flowers the way they grow naturally, says Patti Ross of San Jose.
"The fun part is learning how to use the flowers, and even with the same flowers, everyone's arrangement turns out differently," says Willow Glen resident Brenda Mosher, who grows ferns and various other flowers for the class in her garden. "Willow Glen has good soil so we are lucky there, and people are jealous of how tall my ferns grow."
Mosher's husband, a woodworker, made her a custom-built stand for working on wall-hanging arrangements. She is now an intermediate student. When comparing Ikebana to other flower arranging, she says, "Ikebana emphasizes leaving space between the branches and flowers. When you go to a florist, they put flowers everywhere and an arrangement is packed solid, with no space. Ikebana is more artistic and creative."
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
