Page:Japanese flower arrangement.djvu/32

 scenery. The large tree in the center represents distant scenery; plum or cherry blossoms middle distance, the little flowering plants the foreground. The lines of these arrangements were known as center and sub-center.

The art developed very slowly, and the many schools now so popular did not spring into existence until the end of the fifteenth century. This was the awakening in Japan coinciding with the Elizabethan period in Europe. In this later part of the fifteenth century architecture as well as art underwent great reformation. As the kakimono (scroll picture) and arrangement of flowers were generally the only ornaments in a room, it was natural indeed that the flower arrangement influenced the interior decorations, which became more simple and more exquisite.

Yoshimasa (1436-1490), eighth Shogun of the Ashikaga Dynasty and a munificent patron of the arts, was the greatest promoter of Cha-no-yu, the ceremonial tea, and Ike-bana, [26]