page_title: Ikenobō
section_title: Rikka style
hierarchical_section_title: Ikenobō / History / Rikka style
caption_attribution_description: English: Illustration of a rikka work from the Rikka-no-Shidai Kyūjūsanpei-ari (Ikenobō Senkō Rikka-zu), by Ikenobō Senkō II. 日本語: 池坊専好立花図
context_page_description: Ikenobō is the oldest and largest school of ikebana, the Japanese art of floral design.
  It was founded in the 15th century by the Buddhist monk Senno. The school is based at the Rokkaku-dō temple in Kyoto. The name is derived from a pond where Prince Shōtoku was bathing.
context_section_description: From the late Kamakura period to the Muromachi period (late 13th -16th century), flower arranging contests were held at the imperial court on the day of Tanabata (the festival of the star Vega, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month). These contests were called Tanabata-e . Aristocrats and monks vied with each other in demonstrating their skills, offering flowers in honor of the festival. 
  Use of the family name Ikenobō was granted by the Emperor of the time. Succeeding generations of head priests of the temple used this name. 
  Toward the end of the Muromachi period the earlier simple way of setting flowers in a vase developed into tatehana (tateru, standing; hana, flowers), a more complex style of ikebana. During this period the oldest extant manuscript of ikebana (Kao irai no Kadensho, 1486) and the famous manuscript about ikebana by Ikenobō Senno (Senno Kuden, 1542) were written. Senno, the founder of Ikenobō kadō, originated ikebana that was imbued with meaning (kadō or way of flowers). Previously, tatehana had more of a connection to the spiritual practice of Yorishiro. 
  The Azuchi-Momoyama period (late 16th century) brought a renaissance in ikebana as part of a cultural renaissance. Two Ikenobō masters named Senkō I and II, completed the rikka (立花) style (also meaning standing flowers, but with more complexity than tatehana) and Ikenobō reached a high point of its early history. Paintings depicting the rikka of Senkō II, a famous master of ikenobō, are preserved at the Manshuin Temple in Kyoto) the Yomei-bunko library of the Ninnaji Temple in Kyoto, the Tokyo National Museum and the library of ikenobō headquarters. The arranging of rikka as a style with severn main parts later developed into the modern standard nine part rikka (shin, soe, uke, mikoshi, nagashi, doe, hikai,maeoki, and shoe-shin) was established at this time.
  After Senkō II died, rikka gradually became more complex and mannered. The birth of the shōka style of ikebana brought new interest into the world of ikebana. After his death, an at times violent feud broke out between his two main disciples Daijuin Ishin and Anryūbō Shūgyoku about the direction of the school.
caption: Rikka arrangement by Ikenobō Senkō II (from Rikka-no-Shidai Kyūjūsanpei-ari, Important Cultural Property)
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