Ikebana Ryusei Exhibition

The Ryusei exhibition is the yearly flower show of Ryuseiha, a school of ikebana founded in 1886, held at Shibuya Stream Hall in Tokyo. In 2026 the school marks 140 years since its founding, and the exhibition takes the title Ikebana Kokon Tozai, given in English as Ikebana: Across Time and Place. Kokon tozai is a Japanese phrase for past and present, east and west.

The anniversary show runs over six days in three periods, and almost every work is changed from one period to the next. Its starting point is what the school calls shokubutsu no kao, the faces of plants: the expression each flower and branch carries, which the arranger looks for and brings out. For the anniversary, contemporary arrangers carry that idea into the hall, each looking at plants in a way of their own.

Ryuseiha teaches two kinds of ikebana. Jiyuka, free-style ikebana, is arranged by feel once the plants are in hand, and the faces of plants is the basis of the work. Kotenka, the classical flowers passed down since the school was founded, takes two forms. Rikka grew out of upright offerings set in a vase in the Muromachi period, and it rises straight up from its vessel. Seika developed from nageire, a freer way of placing flowers, and has a lighter, more relaxed air; its form was largely settled in the Edo period. The school's newest form is hibika, small arrangements that show the finer details of a plant. They are made to fit modern ways of living, and their size also allows them to be taught online.

The school was founded by Kauun Yoshimura, and the first Ryusei exhibition was held in 1957. The present headmaster, Kashu Yoshimura, leads a night tour of the hall after closing on two evenings of the run, walking visitors through the works and explaining how ikebana can be looked at. The school's ikebana calendar is sold at the venue.