Start taking lessons at an ikebana class
Domain Knowledge and Experience Are Essential
Based on my experience, developing any kind of service or app requires essential knowledge and experience within that domain. In this case, if I hadn’t practiced ikebana myself, there’s no way I could have developed an app or service that truly resonates with users. So, once I had a rough outline of the app and a working prototype, I started learning ikebana.
Upon researching, I discovered there was only one Ikenobo instructor in my town. I immediately called, briefly explained my situation, and began studying under that teacher. That was around the summer of 2024.
At first, I truly knew nothing. Completely lost, I simply followed the teacher’s instructions—doing exactly as they said or tried arrangements based on their suggestions. Even then, I still felt I didn’t quite grasp it. I always asked a lot of questions about the parts I didn’t understand, trying to learn and feel even a little bit of the teacher’s sensibility, way of life, and attitude towards ikebana. At the biweekly classes, I usually ended up talking for over an hour each time. My teacher loves to talk, so sometimes I end up listening to stories that have nothing to do with anything.
Later, this beginner’s experience would prove valuable for developing this app.
And I’ve continued attending this ikebana class ever since. It’s truly enjoyable.
At first, I had zero knowledge of flowers and was completely lost. I even thought, “Ikenobo’s shōka isn’t ikebana? It’s pronounced ‘shōka’? How confusing!”
My first shōka arrangement was with a type of chrysanthemum, but at the time, I couldn’t appreciate its beauty at all. It was my first time learning about the concepts of main, secondary, and supporting branches.
I didn’t own any floral tools, so my teacher lent me vases and flower shears, telling me to try arranging at home too. I gave it a shot, but it just didn’t work out. After several attempts, I finally thought, “Oh, maybe I got something decent this time.” Back then, I didn’t really understand how to handle the flowers either, and sometimes they’d wilt within a few days.
Flowers Blooming by the Roadside
By the way, spending the whole day thinking about flowers like this, I suddenly started noticing things I hadn’t seen before.
I began looking at the casual flowers blooming by the roadside or in flower beds—things I’d never paid attention to before—and wondering, “What kind of flower is this?” or “What kind of plant is that?” Things I’d never even noticed before started catching my interest.
In this way, I’ve truly felt how engaging with ikebana changes my daily life. I’ve started being moved by things that never touched me before, finding myself taking photos of flowers blooming by the roadside. Eventually, I even bought a new field guide to roadside plants and started reading it.
Personally, I see this change in myself as a good thing, something that enriches my life. I hope this app can convey even a little bit of that sense of wonder.
Watching flowers I arranged in my room bloom, worrying when they started to droop a little, and then, when that happened, trimming them back slightly and rearranging them to make them shine in their current state. Watering them daily to keep them from wilting. I found myself laughing, wondering, “When did I become so fond of flowers?”
Scenes I would have completely overlooked before are now becoming places of small discoveries. This alone feels like it has added color to my life.
True, Secondary, Body
The fundamental structure of Ikenobo ikebana is “True, Secondary, Body.” While learning this, the “golden ratio” suddenly popped into my head. Just as there’s a ratio humans perceive as beautiful, I wondered if a similar universal law of beauty existed in the relationship between these three branches.
Of course, I don’t know if this holds up academically. But when I actually arranged flowers and had that “Ah, this is it” moment of understanding, the sense of satisfaction was something numbers or logic couldn’t explain.
I didn’t realize it when I first experienced arranging chrysanthemums in the single-stem style, but as I read books from various schools and gained more ikebana experience, I feel like my sense of beauty, or perhaps my aesthetic sense, has gradually been refined.
I felt truly happy when I finally grasped, intuitively, what my teacher had repeatedly taught me about the concept of an isosceles triangle.
The Role of Apps as Entry Points and Support
Learning this way, I realized: “Nothing beats the real thing.” But at the same time, I also thought, “That’s precisely why apps are meaningful as entry points to the experience.”
Taking that first step is difficult for anyone. But if even one more person tries it on their phone and thinks, “Maybe I’ll give it a shot,” they might later encounter a real classroom or a piece of work.
I became strongly convinced that if this app could create that gateway, then releasing it would be meaningful. It was a moment when the app’s concept itself gained a new layer of polish, right in the midst of my ongoing ikebana lessons.
While digital experiences hold value, the true charm can only be grasped when you physically touch the flowers. This became a major insight when considering the app’s positioning.