Nibei – Japan Study Club to present “Kadomatsu” lecture and assembly demonstration, Feb 15

Nibei Foundation – Japan Study Club’s Dinner/Lecture Series will feature “Kadomatsu: Japanese New Year’s Decoration – Tradition and Variation” on Tuesday, February 15 at 7:30 pm at the Terasaki Foundation Laboratory Building, 11570 Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064

Ikebana instructor Youkou Kitajima of the Sogetsu School will lecture, present assembly demonstration, and provide hands-on experience of making miniature kadomatsu by participants

Admission including dinner: $10 per person. Miniature kadomatsu material fee: $3 per person, cash only (only 30 miniature kadomatsu will be prepared). Kadomatsu reservation is required at the same time of lecture reservation. First come, first served.

For reservations, visit www.nibei.org or email japanstudies@nibei.org

Reception and dinner at 6:30 pm, followed by presentation at 7:30 pm.

A kadomatsu (literally “gate pine”) is a decoration of the Japanese New Year’s celebration and is placed in pairs in front of homes.

Designs for kadomatsu vary depending on region but are typically made of pine, bamboo, and sometimes plum tree sprigs which represent longevity, steadfastness, and prosperity, respectively.

Veteran Ikebana instructor Yokou Kitajima of the Sogetsu School will demonstrate the assembly of the kadomatsu and present a lecture about the history of the kadomatsu and Sogetsu’s modern approach to the traditional New Year decoration.

Yokou Kitajima is the First Degree Instructor on the Board of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana in Japan. His dynamic arrangements use elements of bamboo, pine and wood materials as well as the most delicate flowers.

Mr. Kitajima is a proprietor of the NK Nursery, a nursery for Japanese gardens, specializing in Japanese pine, in the City of Industry. He teaches ikebana at the San Gabriel Japanese Community Center and the Pasadena Japanese Community Center

He began studying Sogetsu Ikebana under Seiyo Sato in Tokyo at the age of 18. He graduated from Meisei University of Engineering and received his first teaching diploma from Sogetsu at the age of 22. He then entered the employ of Musashino Landscape Company, where he mastered the art of Japanese landscape and subsequently received a degree for landscaping design from the Japanese government.

At the age of 26, he came to the U.S. and became a member of Ikebana International. He was director of the Sogetsu, Los Angeles Branch, from 1991 to 1995, and of Nanka Ikebana Kyojukai (teacher’s guild) from 1997 to 1999.

In 2005, he received the Japan Agriculture Society Agriculture Achievement Award, and in 2007, the Sogetsu Ikebana Overseas Award.