Ikebana

Ikebana (生け花) is a Japanese term for the zen art of flower arrangement.

The main feature of Japanese Ikebana, is that the purposes of the flower arrangement are not limited to a pure aesthetic factor.

Unlike the common habits, according to which you make or buy a bunch of flowers aiming to do it as beautiful as possible, the Ikebana is an art that goes beyond, and that starts with the process of creating the composition as a moment of research and self-expression in the "work" that is being created.

The origins of Ikebana can be traced back to the sixth-seventh century AD, when Buddhism began to spread in Japan from China.
Initially they were simply floral votive offerings.
The first school ever was founded by the Buddhist monk Ikenobo Senkei in the fifteenth century, and corresponds to what is now called Rikka Shofutai style, a very stiff and formal style, rich in symbolism, rarely practiced today.
Today in Japan there are about 3,000 schools of Ikebana, and many thousands more are scattered throughout the world.

Guided tours, activities and other things to do

If you are planning a trip to Japan and you want to do something more than just visiting famous places and monuments, we suggest you to use Govoyagin.

How to use Govoyagin

Govoyagin is a very useful website to enrich your travel experience, especially if you are going solo or it's your first time in Japan.
Because of the language barrier (and more), in Japan it is very difficult to interact with the locals and to get off the tourist track.
Thanks to Govoyagin you can find a lot of interesting and sometimes unique guided tours and activities all over Japan (and not only in Japan), that you would otherwise never be able to enjoy.
But there's more: on Govoyagin you can also buy tickets for several famous attractions, events, transportation and other useful services for tourists. Last but not least, you can reserve a table in hundreds of restaurants.

Some examples

• You can buy tickets in advance to visit some very popular attractions and skip the queue at the ticket office, such as the Tokyo Tower, the Tokyo Sky Tree, Tokyo Disneyland or Universal Studios Osaka
• You can book unique tours and activities, like visiting temples in Kyoto accompanied by a samurai, or driving around Tokyo or Osaka on a go-kart dressed as Super Mario, or even playing videogames against an unbeatable Japanese otaku at his place
• You can try the tea ceremony in Kyoto and watch a real sumo training session in Tokyo
• You can reserve your table in a lot of restaurants, for example the many legendary 3-star Michelin in Japan, or the crazy Shinjuku Robot Restaurant
• ...

Take a look at Govoyagin

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