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What do you think about when you see flowers blooming by the side of the road? Don't the brightly colored blooms have a way of calming the soul?
At APU, courses on Japanese traditions are offered as part of the liberal arts curriculum. These include classes in Sado (Tea Ceremony), Kado (Flower Arrangement/Ikebana), and Noh (Traditional Japanese Arts), allowing students from any college to experience Japanese culture firsthand.
I'm here to introduce the Kado (Ikebana) class I took in the 2025 spring semester.
Spring brings a variety of beautiful flowers, and we use them to create arrangements. The class runs for seven consecutive weeks, with two hours of instruction each week. Class day is a much-needed break from the usual assignments and hustle of campus life—it is a truly restful time for the mind.
For the first two weeks of the seven-week course, we used flowers found blooming around campus. Walking around to find them allowed me to discover things about the campus I wouldn't normally notice in my everyday routine.
From the third week onward, we used materials purchased from a florist. By taking Kado, I gained the ability to express individuality and learned about aesthetics within a limited space. Beyond just arranging flowers, we also received lectures on the history of Ikebana and considered its potential for modern people today.
For someone like me, who doesn't usually buy flowers, this experience of doing Ikebana was incredibly valuable. I truly believe it was worth taking the class.
If you have the chance, I highly encourage you to enroll in the Kado course to experience the joy, history, and potential of Ikebana for yourself!
Hello everyone! I'm Sho Nishimura, a second-year APM student! Recently, my favorite hobby has been traveling to various places and enjoying delicious food!
Through my activities in SPA, I hope to connect with many different people. I would love to share more about the unique features of Beppu and APU with all of you through SPA!
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