Description

Ikebana International, Tokyo, Japan. Published 1961 - 1964. Six issues: No. 9 (Autumn 1961), No. 10 (Spring-Summer 1962), No. 12 (Spring-Summer 1963), No. 13 (Fall-Winter 1963), No. 14 (Spring-Summer 1964), No. 15 (Fall-Winter 1964). Wrappers, 64-72 pp. per issue; 26 cm. Printed by Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd., Tokyo. Covers bear original botanical illustrations rendered in the Japanese painting tradition; mostly black-and-white photography throughout, with several color plates. All six issues Very Good: covers bright and clean with light toning appropriate to age, spines intact, pages clean and unmarked. The English-language journal of Ikebana International, founded in Tokyo in 1956 to promote Japanese flower arrangement across cultures. These six issues span a formative period when the organization was expanding rapidly from a handful of chapters to a global network and ikebana was being introduced seriously in the West for the first time. Content covers all three major schools (Ikenobo, Ohara, Sogetsu), with articles, essays, exhibition coverage, and chapter news from practitioners worldwide. Highlights include: the Kokusai Ikebana Exhibition in Osaka (No. 10); an account of Yuchiku Fujiwara, Master of Rikka (No. 12); the "Partners for Peace" exhibition attended by 35,000 Japanese and American visitors at the U.S. Naval Air Station, Atsugi (No. 12); bonsai across multiple styles; a photographic essay on South African ikebana (No. 15); and a ceremonial Rikka arrangement 10 feet wide and 15 feet tall created for the wedding of Ikenobo Headmaster Senei Ikenobo (No. 15). Note: Issue No. 11 is not present in this lot. A scarce and coherent run from the earliest years of this important publication.