Ikebana room decoration and commenced in a rudimentary way to consider natural beauty in floral arrangement. At this time "ikebana" was known as "rikka". This same age conceived another form called "nageirebana". "Rikka" and "nageirebana" are the two branches into which "ikebana" has been divided. Popularity of the two styles vacillated between these two for centuries. In the beginning, "rikka" was stiff, formal, and more decorative while "nageirebana" was simpler and more natural. Although "nageirebana" began to come into favour in the Higashiyama period, "rikka" was still preferred, and "nageirebana" did not truly gain popularity until the Momoyama period, about a
Ikebana in a vase. The flowers in the vase were arranged in the earliest style called "tatebana" or "tatehana" (立花, "standing flowers"), and were composed of "shin (motoki)" and "shitakusa". Recent historical research now indicates that the practice of "tatebana" derived from a combination of belief systems, including Buddhist, and the Shinto "yorishiro" belief is most likely the origin of the Japanese practice of "ikebana" that we know today. Together they form the basis for the original purely Japanese derivation of the practice of "ikebana". The art developed very slowly, and the many schools did not come into existence until the