It has been quite a while since the wonderful ikebana seminar took place in Wiesbaden-Naurod, which Professor Noda honored us by attending. He traveled from Kyoto at our invitation to once again provide us 35 ikebana practitioners with the latest news and to professionally accompany us on our KADO. The level at such a seminar is usually quite high, as almost all participants have a teaching certificate and can look back on many years of ikebana practice. At the beginning of August, we were pampered by the team at the Wilhelm Kempf House during the seminar, allowing us to concentrate fully on the seminar with theory and lots of practice. Fortunately, I had a free slot in my schedule this year, so I was able to make the trip to Wiesbaden-Naurod.
Halfway there, however, I made a detour to Weimar. Not only is Goethe's garden house worth a visit, but with a little luck you can also discover the homes of two other famous people who lived in Weimar. In any case, this European City of Culture is well worth a visit.
Goethe's Garden House in Weimar
In 1776, Duke Carl August financed Johann Wolfgang Goethe's purchase of the garden and the house belonging to it, which at that time were located just outside the city gates. Goethe had the property, including the 16th-century vineyard house, repaired and redesigned according to his ideas. He lived and worked there until June 1782.
The sandstone monument 'Stone of Good Fortune', a sphere on an unadorned cube and one of Germany's first non-figurative monuments, was erected by Goethe at the end of Malvenallee in April 1777.
Walking through the adjacent park along the Ilm River, past the castle and across the Sternbrücke bridge, you arrive at Leibnizallee. There you will find the house where Bauhaus masters Johannes Itten (1919–1923) and László Moholy-Nagy (1923–1925) lived.
There was still much to see, learn, and write about in this city, but my primary interest was ultimately in attending the ikebana seminar. So I continued on to Wiesbaden-Naurod.
Ikebana seminar with Prof. Manabu Noda from August 3 to 7, 2025
It was a great pleasure to see acquaintances and friends from Prof. Noda's ikebana seminar two years ago again. After all participants had checked in on Saturday evening and made or renewed contacts, the seminar began on Sunday morning with a detailed theory session on the topic of Jiyūka and a demonstration of two freestyle arrangements (with hostas, green carnations, zinnias, and thistles) by Professor Noda. After that, it was time to get creative: we were able to let our imaginations run wild with the materials provided or those we had brought with us. Our club president had once again organized everything perfectly. In addition, all participants pitched in so that the plant material in the flower pots was fresh every day.
Some gathered wild carrots and daisies in the meadow, while others collected green leaves in the adjacent forest, for example from the numerous beech trees and blackberries. This resulted in very different arrangements. It was suggested that the first arrangement be placed in a vase and the second be designed as a two-part arrangement. Since almost all of the participants made two jiyūka, our professor had his hands full correcting around 70 works that day. As always, the discussions and corrections were very sensitive. Sometimes a leaf or stem was changed here and there, but there were also more extensive corrections in which the professor rebuilt the entire arrangement. Once you had finished your work, you followed the corrections to the other arrangements closely, because this was also a great way to learn a lot.
On Monday, the topic of Shōka Shōfūtai was on the agenda, which was again discussed in detail with theory and a demonstration of the special form ‘betsuden’ and the variant with two materials ‘Nishu-ike’. Professor Noda worked on the Nishu-ike forms with cattail leaves and eustoma or beech branches and eustoma, and then moved on to the Betsuden forms: mae-zoe and finally niho-shomen, also worked with eustoma.
The third day of the seminar began with theory on the topic of “Rikka Shōfūtai,” which was supplemented by a corresponding demonstration arrangement. For the less advanced students, our professor explained Shōka Sanshu-ike, which involves working with three materials, and demonstrated a Sanshu-ike with dill, cattail leaves, and eustoma. That afternoon, there was a wonderful, concentrated silence in our seminar room. Everyone was fully engaged in the task at hand. The first part of the Rikka was completed. However, no one finished completely, as creating a Rikka takes quite some time. On Wednesday morning before the seminar began, the auditorium of the Wilhelm Kempf House looked quite interesting with the almost finished Rikka on the work tables. Most had used the material intended for the Shin, the white gladioli, appropriately.
After lunch, we learned about the new “old” rules for the predecessor of Rikka, Tatehana. This is a form that participants really enjoy working with, as it requires less wiring than Rikka. The form of Shōka Shimpūtai was also discussed and demonstrated using eustoma, gentian, and steel grass.
As everyone had a variety of materials in their flower pots from the different arrangements they had already worked on in the previous days, a wide variety of Tatehana and Shōka Shimpūtai were created on Thursday, the fifth day of the seminar.
Following the official presentation of the certificates of participation and the thank-you speeches, it was time to tidy up together, as always. With everyone pitching in, the auditorium was back to its original state before dinner. Conclusion: everything went like clockwork, even though some materials are not available in Europe at all or are of a different quality. At this point, I would also like to express my sincere thanks to Professor Noda, who delighted us every day with his good humor and special welcome arrangements, and last but not least, a special thank you to our president of the Tachibana Kadokai Chapter e. V., Angelika Eisinger.