Brief introduction of flower art

Flower art is a medium for people to express their natural life, show their natural charm and understand nature, life, art and social life in their inner world. It is also a way for people to cultivate their self-cultivation, cultivate their sentiments and beautify their lives with the help of natural flowers and plants. At present, there are several opinions about the origin of flower arrangement art, which are not unified and need further textual research and discussion.

In the long history of human cultural development, although the art of flower arrangement has a long history, its creation and appreciation are instantaneous, and it was only a short-lived artistic expression before the invention of photography and video, so few works have been handed down. The textual research on its origin can only rely on the records of underground unearthed cultural relics or various historical materials. In addition, few people have done textual research in the past, so it is difficult to draw a conclusion today. Here are only a few theories about the origin for your reference. At present, there are two aspects about the origin of flower arrangement art, one is from the original form of flower arrangement art, and the other is from the origin of flower arrangement art. There are two views in this respect, one is from flower supply and the other is from folk custom.

(1) This is a popular saying about flowers from Buddhism. According to two points, one is from the point of view of Japanese flower arranging circles, and the other is from Buddhist scriptures.

1, Japanese flower arrangement circles believe that Japanese flower arrangement art developed from offering flowers before Buddha, and developed into today's flower arrangement through the process of offering flowers → palace flower arrangement → folk flower arrangement. With the development of Japanese flower arrangement art, many people go to Japan to study flower arrangement, so the origin of Japanese flower arrangement is summarized, and the theory that flower arrangement originated from Buddhism is circulated.

2. Quote from historical books and Buddhist scriptures. At present, many books have quoted the part about flowers in Nan Shi, which is considered as the earliest record of scholars in Qi and Wu Dynasties. It's about Taizu of Jin 'an: "When I was seven years old, my mother, Ruan Yuan, was critically ill, so I invited a monk to walk in the street, and some people presented lotus flowers to the Buddha. All the monks filled their stems with copper poppies to make them want to stay in China without dying. Zi Mao bowed to the Buddha in tears and said, "If my aunt wins because of this, may the buddhas keep Huajing Zhai from dying." On the seventh day of fasting, the flowers are even more bright red, because there is a little root beard in the poppy, which is called Xiaogan today. "Lotus Sacrifice to Buddha" holds that flower arrangement originated from Buddhist Hu.

3. In addition, there are regulations on flowers in Buddhist scriptures. There are records of "receptacle" in Buddhist scriptures and Shuwei. The Book of Practice begins with a story about flowers when Sakyamuni, the ancestor of Buddhism, became a Buddha. There is a cloud in Wei's Old Records: "The Buddha died, the incense wood burned the corpse, and the spirit bone was broken ... It is called a" relic ". Disciples receive gifts and put them in vases to exhaust incense, glory and tribute. " The Buddhist Canon, a prominent Buddhist law in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, also mentioned that wherever you go, there are people who support you with flowers. Flower offering is the first of the six offerings in Buddhism, which shows that Buddhism attaches importance to flower offering. There are three main forms of offering flowers in Buddhism: dish flowers, blooming flowers and scattered flowers.

(B), from folk customs

This is a broad definition of flower arrangement, which holds that the original form of flower arrangement is to never use utensils to hold flowers and wear them on your body (head). Flowers are beautiful things endowed by nature, and people have been with flowers for a long time in production activities.

Flowers make people feel trust and comfort and can communicate with each other. People wear flowers (leaves) as amulets to ward off evil spirits and seek peace. Later, it gradually developed into an ornament, showing its beauty and charm, and giving gifts to each other to show love and miss. This is a spontaneous behavior, although there are some superstitious elements in it, but it is not caused by a certain religion, but a psychological reaction that people do not understand the invisible universe.

For example, in China, people had the custom of offering sacrifices and flowers long before Buddhism was introduced. The earliest legend is The Classic of Mountains and Seas, which says: The East China Sea is the land of Shuo Mountain, and the story of God naphthalene and Lei Yu catching ghosts. The Yellow Emperor set up a Ren Tao at the portal, and drew two figures of tiger and reed rope to ward off evil spirits, which were imitated by later generations. This is a story more than 4000 years ago BC. The Book of Songs is a collection of folk poems from Shang and Zhou Dynasties to the Spring and Autumn Period before 470 BC. In the Book of Songs Zheng (Qin), there are records of men and women holding orchids to worship and play by the Qin River, and giving peony to each other when they leave. This large-scale religious activity is a combination of spring outing and mate selection for men and women, both of which are introduced by flowers. A similar situation is also recorded in the Book of Songs, such as "seeing people as they are, making me hold peppers".

I think you are as beautiful as a sunflower, so you gave me a handful of fragrant pepper. These can be regarded as a primitive form of flower arrangement (in a broad sense). Later, there was a saying in Qu Yuan's "Nine Songs of Chu Ci": "Yu, and he will make it". It means harmony, that is, putting bundles of flowers in front of the altar. Is this close to the form of flower arrangement? Ghost Song of Nanshan describes the mountain gods with colorful flowers, and folds flowers to send thoughts: "Wear Shi Lan to bring Du Heng, and fold incense and thoughts".

Although Qu Yuan used the title in Journey to the West, it also shows that people at that time already enjoyed the atmosphere of folding flowers. "(Evil) the fragrance of the big thin, the pride of Changzhou, I am not as good as the ancients, who am I to play with this grass?" Another example is Lu Kai's plum blossom poem: "Fold flowers to welcome posts and send them to the leading people. There is nothing in Jiangnan, so why not give them a spring?" It is natural to put flowers sent by friends in containers filled with water. This is the origin of the art of flower arrangement, which existed before Buddhism was introduced to China. Buddhism was introduced to China late. According to historical records, when Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions in the Western Han Dynasty, he first heard of Pagoda Religion (Buddha Tu). In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Kaya Tongmo and Zhu Fa, the eminent monks of Tianzhu, came to Luoyang at the invitation of China's emissary (AD 67). Ming Di built the White Horse Temple for them and asked them to translate the classics of Buddhism before it spread in China.

At that time, Confucianism was dominant, and Buddhism had little influence. During the Three Kingdoms period, Wei initiated the atmosphere of talking about learning, and learning occupied a dominant position. Buddhism in the Western Jin Dynasty could not develop independently. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the social status of Buddhism surpassed metaphysics. It was not until the Southern and Northern Dynasties that Buddhism became very popular. Later, it was depressed for a period of time, and it was only in the Sui Dynasty that it officially prevailed in the whole country. Therefore, the original form of flower arrangement art cannot be said to be a flower offering from Buddhism, it is just a form of flower arrangement. Originated in ancient Egypt

Chinese and Western Flower Arrangement Works and Key Points

There is such a reference in books and periodicals about flower arrangement, which is based on murals with flower arrangement patterns found in the tombs of ancient Egyptian pharaohs. The evidence of cultural relics is undeniable. In 2500 BC, there were murals of water lily bottles on the wall of Beni Hassan's tomb in Egypt, and flowers were found in the tomb, which was the earliest "dried flower" made in the world. It is said that the ancient Egyptians regarded lotus as a sith god who made love. They already knew to put flowers in a bottle filled with water to prevent them from withering. All these are enough to show that the ancient Egyptians had a flower sacrifice ceremony very early. In addition, the pyramids in Egypt and the geometric figures created one after another have a great influence on the architecture and artistic style in Western Europe, while the traditional western classical flower arrangement is a lot of geometric figures with pyramid-like symmetry, balance and weight, showing the consistency of artistic style. Therefore, there is a certain basis for saying that flower arrangement originated in ancient Egypt, at least it can be said that it is the birthplace of western flower arrangement art.

Originated in China.

Since ancient times, China has had the custom of offering flowers and boughs to ancestors, and the atmosphere of enjoying flowers and trees is very strong. According to archaeological findings, there is a circular basin with six red flowers on one side of the tomb mural in Wang Du, Hebei. In the past, people's awareness of flower arrangement was relatively weak. They once thought it was a bonsai, but now it looks like flower arrangement. This is very similar to an apricot blossom poem written by Geng Xin in the Northern Zhou Dynasty. The poem says: "Spring is full of wild flowers and the branches are full of green leaves. Vaguely reflected in the village pier, the mountain is not open, the hospitality is good, and the gold plate is lined with red Qiong. " The ancient literati in China wandered the Jianghu, loving flowers and cherishing them, and taking landscape flowers and plants as their friends. They not only enjoy the flowers, but also explore and pick them leisurely. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Heng's Return to Tianfu said, "In the middle of spring, the moon is bright, the grass is lush, and the grass is glorious ... in the distance, chatting for self-entertainment." Tao Yuanming in the Eastern Jin Dynasty wrote a poem: "Autumn chrysanthemum is beautiful in color, which impairs its beauty. If you forget things in this flood season, you will be far away from the world. " The interest in picking flowers and folding branches is lasting, such as "flowers can be folded straight, don't wait for no flowers to be folded empty", "it's hard to laugh every time in the world, and chrysanthemums must be inserted in your head" and so on. It is precisely because of this hobby of China literati that China's flower arrangement art not only has a natural portrait style, but also has a strong literati atmosphere. It integrates poetry, books, paintings and flowers, and is eclectic and modest. This is the characteristic of oriental flower arrangement art, which accords with the style of China traditional culture. Japanese flower arrangement was introduced from China, so it is permeated with many such characteristics. In addition, China people have long studied the methods of prolonging the life of cut flowers, the layout of flower branches, and the coordination with flower devices and the surrounding environment, making flower arrangement an independent and systematic specialty. Gao Lian's Three Views on Bottle Flowers, Zhang Qiande's Handbook of Bottle Flowers, Luo Kun's Nine Tin Flowers and Yuan Hongdao's History of Bottles in Ming Dynasty are all the earliest monographs on flower arrangement. So China is the birthplace of oriental flower arrangement art.