The Founder
October has taken a special place in my heart since I started learning Ikebana (Japanese Flower Arrangement) at Mishoryu. Not because this month’s death unleashes the Halloween night upon the world, nor because of the first virginal traces of Winter appearing in its days, but rather because the Mishoryu school commemorates its first headmaster during “pumpkin month.”
This year, the current headmaster has held a Shinto and a Buddhist ceremony in his ancestor’s honor since 2023 sees the 200th anniversary of his death. Appealing to both pantheons on the same day may be unorthodox, but I find it perfect to underline such a critical turning point.In this month’s issue of the Mishoryu journal, our current headmaster wrote that he didn’t know what the founder would think of him and how the school developed over two centuries. He also used the following Japanese expression to describe his approach:
精一杯
It reads “sei ippai” and means one’s best. And that is excellent advice for anyone: always act optimally, regardless of recognition. Sen no Rikyū, the great Japanese Tea Master, would say no different.
It sounds so simple, yet a lifetime of practice barely suffices to attain such an ideal. In some strange way, this anecdote reminds me of how correct Blaise Pascal’s quote is:
All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone. ― Blaise Pascal, Pensées