Special Experience
Kamakura
Create Vivid Otherworldly Ikebana Beauty with a Flower Artist in Kamakura
Overview
Create a “Keshikifu” (“Windswept Landscape”) work of landscape-style flower art inspired by ikebana traditions at a quiet atelier in Kita-Kamakura. Under the attentive guidance of flower artist Norihiko Kamei, immerse yourself completely in calm meditative work with colorful flowers and experience uniquely Japanese aesthetics.
Key Features
・Private instruction in creative flower arrangement reflecting the aesthetics of traditional flower arrangement and tea ceremony at the atelier of a professional artist.
・Render a scenic and fragrant windswept landscape vista that fits into the palm of your hand by fitting flowers into a floatstone base.
・Your work of art can also freshen the air of any room by applying custom aroma oil created by a perfumer blending the unique natural scents of Japan.
Kamakura
from
¥29,000 /person
1 - 6 participants
120 min
Available in English
Cancel free up to 8 days before
* If fewer than 2 participants, the minimum fee will be JPY 58,000
Details
A unique perspective on nature’s ephemeral beauty
Five minutes from Kita-Kamakura Station, atelier and gallery Ame Kita-Kamakura was founded in 2020 by flower artist Norihiko Kamei. After studying traditional Japanese tea ceremony and Ikebana flower arrangement as a student, Kamei attained a master’s degree from the Sogetsu School of Ikebana. He says that a focus on creating condensed and magnificent microcosmic worlds – a uniquely Japanese aesthetic found also in bonsai, tea ceremony, and miniature gardens, has been a lifelong theme of his work.
Kamei’s art product brand “雨 ame” (“Amé”) uses fresh, preserved, and artificial design flowers to conjure colorful landscapes from thin air right before your eyes. “Ame,” Japanese for “rain,” reflects Kamei’s desire to create works that “irrigate and nourish the soul just like the beauty of nature’s own greenery.”
Landscapes that fit in the palm of your hand
In this experience, you will create a colorful “Windswept Landscape” art piece modeled after Kamei’s original “Keshikifu”, by arranging preserved and dried flowers into Sakurajima floatstones. These are objets d’art meant to represent “unknown vistas in the palm of your hand”. Enjoy the freedom of creative expression, using floatstones one size smaller than Kamei’s usual landscapes.
When your work is complete, you can choose from four different aroma oils to invoke the scent of a soft breeze blowing through the scenery you have created. These oils were blended from natural Japanese fragrances like yuzu citrus, cypress, and perilla mint by Keiichiro Tsuda of perfumer “sōhon”. When you place a drop on the floatstone of your landscape, you’ll feel the fragrant winds of nature and the mysterious liminal sensation of standing between reality and fantasy.
What inspirations will you draw from, and what ideas will you put into your work? Kamei’s commentary will help put you in an inspired frame of mind. He’ll also teach you how to handle the preserved flowers and various other materials and empower you with knowledge before you begin.
Vibrant flowers and idiosyncratic stones
“Windswept Landscape” art pieces are created with tweezers and scissors. It’s hard not to have your mood brightened by a glimpse of all the preserved and dried flowers arrayed on the table.
After arranging your chosen flower palette, choose a base of floatstone with an “oasis” sponge embedded within. Each floatstone has a unique shape and color. Make your choices based on the interplay of color, or the texture that suits the scenery you wish to create.
The private pleasure of creating an unseen landscape
After you’ve chosen your flower material and floatstone, you’ll “plant” your flowers in the stone under Kamei’s guidance. You’ll learn the ins and outs of the basic techniques and tricks of inserting the flowers so that you can relax and enjoy it no matter what your skill level.
Choose your flowers and place them into the stone one by one. This meticulous, meditative work in a calm, flat black space without distractions calms the mind, transporting you far from the hustle and stress of everyday life into a world of extraordinary beauty and self-expression.
One way to check whether you’re achieving a proper soft gradient of color is to squint your eyes, remove glasses if you wear them, or otherwise blur your vision periodically. One of the joys of “Windswept Landscape” arrangements is to create gorgeous soft gradients without sharp boundaries between colors. Flowers can be removed and replaced even after being placed, so you can work and revise to your liking as you go
A time of relaxation with tea and Kamakura specialty sweets
Seasonal teas and Kamakura confections are available during breaks or after you complete your landscape. Enjoy a sumptuous moment of taking in your work with refreshments.
Beauty fades, but faded beauty is beauty in its own right. “I want people to enjoy watching the colors fade with the passage of time just as they would in nature itself.” The wabi-sabi transience and ephemerality of landscape arrangements only further evokes our changing world of seasons and ages, right in the palm of your hand.
Four different aromas (5ml of oil each) are available: “Color wind,” “pale wind,” “green wind,” and “nostalgic wind.” Compare the scents and choose the one that suits your landscape perfectly. A well-made landscape piece can use the harmony of colors, textures, and scents to make an unreal vista feel familiar or even nostalgic.
Create a scene that captures the beauty and nostalgia in your mind, and then keep it to cherish in the palm of your hand or a corner of your home.
A choice of two types of flower art to create
As an alternate option to a fragrant “Windswept Landscape” art piece, you can opt instead to create “Hakoniwa” (“Boxed Garden”), perfect as an interior piece or a gift for a loved one. Ame’s original boxed garden arrangements portray stunning, vivid personalized gardens inside square boxes of paulownia wood that fit into the palm of your hand (60x60x31 mm).
(“Boxed Garden” arrangements include a change of price, and do not include aromatic oils.)
Norihiko Kamei, of Ame Kita-Kamakura
Norihiko Kamei, of Ame Kita-Kamakura
A master’s degree recipient from Sogestu School of Ikebana, with training in tea ceremony and ikebana flower arrangement, Kamei uses natural materials like plants and flowers to create unprecedented works that push the envelope of flower art. More recently, he’s exhibited his “Hanayama” (“Flower Mountain”) series in the Netherlands, France, and Germany.
In July 2020, he founded his atelier Ame Kita-Kamakura in Kamakura City. His works feature unique innovations on ikebana traditions, such as his use of preserved, dried, and artificial flowers, which has drawn attention in Japan and abroad. Kamei’s atelier is a place not only for creation but also a gallery space for exhibitions and workshops.
Customer's Voice
With the essential oils surrounding us, and the calm peacefulness of connecting to art through nature we lost track of time and enjoyed every second of this present moment. It was a lovely experience to do together. With the talent and expertise of the master artist, we felt well guided and encouraged throughout the activity. We would love to do this again.
L.B. United States
Location
Ame Kita-Kamakura
Kamakura-shi, Kanagawa
Request for booking
* Required
October 2024
Sun
Mon
Tue
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17
Available
17
Full
17
No Events
If your first choice is not available, we will confirm your booking based on your other preferred dates and times.
Additional Options
Please select following option if you prefer to create "Hakoniwa" instead of "Keshikifu".
Change to Hakoniwa (“Boxed Garden”) / person
JPY 0
0
Experience fee
Minimum fee JPY 29000 × 2 participants
JPY 58,000
*Minimum: 2 participants; JPY 29,000 × 2 will be charged for bookings below the minimum.
Price may change after date is selected.
Additional options fee
Interpretation in English
JPY 0
Other
Service fee (5%)
JPY 2,900
Total Price
JPY 60,900
tax & service fee incl.
Extra charges may apply for the following
- ・Interpretation / Dependant on experience schedule and language
- ・Optional add-ons / Souvenirs, delivery, etc.
Kamakura
from
¥29,000 /person
1 - 6 participants
120 min
Available in English
Cancel free up to 8 days before
* If fewer than 2 participants, the minimum fee will be JPY 58,000
Things to know
Contact Us
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We also accept bookings from corporate clients and travel agencies.