Ikebana arranged as to express peace. All gifts of flowers must be in bud, so that the person to whom they are sent may have the pleasure of seeing them openquite a contrast to the present Western idea of everything being forced to perfection before leaving the florist. The spiritual aspect of "kadō" is considered very important to its practitioners. Some practitioners feel silence is needed while making "ikebana" while others feel this is not necessary. It is a time to appreciate things in nature that people often overlook because of their busy lives. It is believed that one becomes more
Ikebana lines became complicated and the forms pattern-like. This was an age of utmost elegance. All the fine arts were highly developed, above all pattern-printing for fabrics and decoration. In the latter part of the 17thcentury, Korin, the famous lacquer artist and essentially a creator of exquisite designs, strongly influenced "ikebana". In this period, the combination of a pattern or design with lines that followed the natural growth of the plant produced the most pleasing and graceful results. It was in the latter part of the 17thcentury that "ikebana" was most practised and reached its highest degree of perfection as an