KAORUKO Modern Flower Show & Workshop

KAORUKO is a celebrated flower artist who shares Japanese culture and spirituality through her flower arrangements and her innovative form of performance. In her distinctive “KAORUKO-style” flower show, she entertains the audience through a unique storytelling performance that combines flowers, music, fashion, movement, and more. She is known as a pioneer in the bridal industry, having produced more than 20,000 weddings and for designing her signature “Yureru Bouquet” which became a global phenomenon and has been presented to celebrities and top athletes including tennis players Marija Sharapova and Naomi Osaka. The Japanese government celebrates her ability to connect and strengthen ties between Japan and other nations as she participates in foreign diplomacy programs including Japan-UK Season of Culture, Japonismes 2018, Japan-Vietnam Festival and more.

JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles is pleased to present a three-part program with KAORUKO, who will open the evening with two live shows followed by a special interactive workshop.

Registration

Registration has closed.

Program Details

Show 1: Bonsai Style

Japan recently entered the new imperial era ‘Reiwa,’ when Crown Prince Naruhito ascended to the nation’s Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1, 2019. The Japanese government has announced the official English-language interpretation of ‘Reiwa’ as ‘Beautiful Harmony”—the first year of the ‘Reiwa’ era marks the Imperial year of 2,679. The ascension ceremony was broadcast worldwide and it included the presentation of the Three Sacred Treasures of Japan to Emperor Naruhito, a practice which also appears in Japanese mythology. KAORUKO will express Japanese spirituality as cultivated in ancient times using flowers, pared down movement found within hushed silence, recreating an atmosphere of ancient Shinto rituals, and incorporating the intentional movements seen in a tea ceremony which began in the Muromachi-period.

Music: Gagaku (court music of ancient Japan); Kimono Designer: Yumi Katsura; Flowers & Containers: Sanpou (small wooden stand to place offerings used in Japanese rituals), hakkyakuan (8-legged stand used in Shinto shrine ceremonies), himousen (scarlet felt carpet used in Japanese ceremonies), tatami (straw mat), lacquerware, earthenware, rice stalk, flowers and branches

Show 2: BIG WAVE

Katsushika Hokusai The Great Wave off Kanagawa from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

The audience will experience the turbulent sea depicted in “The Great Wave off Kanagawa,” a masterpiece drawn by the world-famous Edo-period artist Katsushika Hokusai, as KAORUKO conveys the rough water through her body movement while wearing a kimono dress featuring Hokusai’s artwork print. The performance is enhanced with Osatsuma shamisen music and waves created using cloth, which is a stage technique used in the classical performing art, Kabuki.

Music: OSATSUMA shamisen (three-stringed traditional Japanese instrument); Kimono Designer: Yumi Katsura; Flowers & Containers: Iron stand, flowers from the U.S., naminuno (wave cloth)

Workshop: “Modern Japan” Flower Arrangement

Participants will have the opportunity to make their own creations and engage with KAORUKO as she teaches what the Turkish refer to as “KAORUKO IKEBANA” by finding a balance between tradition and modernity, differentiating herself from the traditional Japanese Ikebana floral arrangement. She does this by incorporating Japanese values of wabi-sabi (finding beauty in imperfection) and utilizing the beauty of space. Her unique spin on ikebana also evokes Japanese youth culture and qualities of kawaii (cuteness) and pop, letting personal expression shine through to tell a story.