Diana Farah

DUBAI: The UAE’s Ohara School of Ikebana hosted its annual Cherry Blossom season flower arrangement class on March 27, with fresh Sakura branches on display.

Ikebana professor Harue Oki conducted the class and taught attendees all about the practice of Japanese floral arrangements, using the fresh pink plant.

The imported Cherry Blossom flowers were used in all the arrangements, giving students the freedom to create art through flowers.

Due to popular demand, the cherry blossom class has been conducted every year since 2019. Japanese culture is quite prevalent in the UAE, from food to culture, Emiratis are taken by the simplicity and minimalism found in Japan.

One UAE citizen, Asma AlAli, spoke to Arab News Japan about her first experience with Ikebana.

“I saw a post on the Japanese embassy’s Instagram page about this class and I was interested, so I registered,” AlAli said.

She said she wanted to try the Japanese art behind the flower arrangements, considering they were different to the traditional flower bouquets one might see in the Western world.

“[Ikebana] has some certain techniques and it is all about simplicity,” she added. “It’s very interesting to learn about Japanese culture and how they see flowers.”

AlAli speaks Japanese at an intermediate level and has studied the language since she was in school. “I recently visited Japan and I loved the tea ceremonies and many other concepts there,” she told Arab News Japan.

Australian expat Renata said she has participated in Ikebana classes once before and really enjoyed it.

“I am very familiar with Cherry Blossom season and really appreciate the ceremony around it,” she said.

The Ohara School of Ikebana also conducted a similar themed class in Abu Dhabi on March 26, which was fully booked.

Read more: UAE Cherry Blossom Ikebana workshop makes a comeback 3 years in a row