modern rikka

Ikebana is probably the most popular term now in Japanese for flower arrangement.  It uses two kanji which are also read as Shoka and Seika.  生花  The first character reads as ike,sho ＆sei which means birth, living,raw,fresh and other related words;  the second character ka and bana means flower, blossom, gorgeous ＆words with similar images.  The characters together have many nuances and different meanings can be taken.  Natural flower is the most literal. (now ikebana is usually written in the alphabet rather than the characters, when it is written in characters sometimes a letter is used inbetween the characters)

Kado which is the way of the flowers.  The character ka means flower, the one above can be used，but usually another character which also means China is used.

The styles:  Rikka, Sogon, Tea Ceremony Arrangements,  Nagaire, Heika, Bunjin,  Shoka or Seika or Kakubana, Moribana &  Free Style.

     tea        kimihina