International Journal of Ikebana Studies
A Proposal for Online Ikebana Training
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ikebana/9/0/9_19/_article
A Proposal for Online Ikebana Training: Developing and Evaluating
a New Curriculum to Teach Ikebana as Meditation
Shoso Shimbo
Abstract
The first section of this study is a proposal for a new online ikebana curriculum. Since there is little educational research in ikebana, the proposal is largely a hypothesis based on the author’s experience. New attempts were made to develop a curriculum that values meditation rather than self-expression in the process of creating freestyle ikebana. The second section is a pilot study to evaluate the newly developed curriculum based on a short eight-item survey. Quantitative analysis shows that this curriculum helps advanced students (more than 6 years’ experience in ikebana) to improve their meditation, and qualitative data further confirms that their meditative experiences may not always be a positive experience for the individual, but it’s meaningful nevertheless. Results suggest that resources including video tutorials at the orientation stage contributed to encouraging the advanced level students in particular to meditate more effectively during the creative process of ikebana.
