Sun, May 19, 2013 13:13:01 PM
Bangkok Post
Sun, May 19, 2013 13:13:01 PM
Bangkok Post
When I was doing my bachelor's degree at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology at Lat Krabang, I was granted a scholarship from Japan Airlines to study summer session courses at Sophia University in Tokyo. One of the subjects I studied was Nihon-go Kiso Ichi (Basic Japanese 1).
That was when my journey to discover Japanese culture began. Towards the end of the summer, I had become familiarised with the Japanese language and culture. Equipped with my basic Japanese, I found myself enjoying simple conversations with the locals I had a chance to meet.
During that very educational summer at Sophia University, I came across one of the most beautiful poems I had ever read. It went:
One fallen flower returning to the branch? ... Oh no!
A white butterfly
It was a translation of a Japanese haiku which was written by a famed poet and Shinto priest named Arakida Moritake who lived in the late 15th century to early 16th century.
Inspired by that beautiful haiku, I created today's simple floral display that easily evokes the image of flying butterflies using the blossoms of orchid and globe amaranth. I called it "Floral Butterfly".
To begin I cut the end of a dry centre spine of a coconut frond at a 45-degree angle to make it pointed. Then I cut the stems of the orchid blossoms. I continue to cut the stem of the blossoms of globe amaranth.
After I have prepared a number of both flowers, I proceed to pierce the back of the orchid blossom with the dry centre spine of coconut frond. I then continue to pierce the back of the globe amaranth blossom with the same dry centre spine of coconut frond.
The number of floral butterflies depends on the size of the vase. For my purple tall vase as shown, I prepare approximately 36 floral butterflies. The final step is to arrange all the floral butterflies in the vase. The image of flying pink butterflies we have here is a tribute to that One Fallen Flower Haiku of Arakida Moritake I deeply admired.
TIPS1. Be careful to choose the dry centre spine of a coconut frond that is not too big, otherwise it cannot create a graceful curve with the weight of the blossoms .
2. Blossoms of orchid and globe amaranth of different colours can be introduced to create a different look.
3. Other blossoms with appropriate weight such as frangipani can also be used to recreate this beautiful haiku by Arakida Moritake.
