Hana Bon

Well pulley transformed into an ikebana display

This very old wooden well pulley was used during the Edo period before being transformed into a support to present an ikebana flower arrangement. The wheel is decorated with ivy leaves (tsuita), a motif appreciated by Rinpa artists. This ornament evokes a painting by Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743) of a poem referring to future winds scattering purple ivy leaves and recalls a famous scene from The Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari) from the 10th century, in which a courtier, exiled from the capital, meets an itinerant monk on an ivy-strewn path of Mount Utsu.