Floral decoration, like other things, has passed through varying phases of development. In certain stages especially when the hothouse flowers were newer and more of a novelty than at the present time, there were fashions in flowers as well as in clothes.

Esta pesquisa visou possibilitar o conhecimento da Ikebana como uma manifestação estética significativa, integrante da história da arte japonesa e que vem se disseminando pelo mundo. Para compreensão da sua estética, será demonstrado como exemplo o trabalho do artista contemporâneo Toshiro Kawase, o estudo do Zen e suas características. Toshiro Kawase é um artista especializado na arte da Ikebana, e suas obras resultaram em dois livros de âmbito internacional: Inspired Flower Arrangements (1990) e The Book of Ikebana (2000). A arte japonesa é baseada nos sentimentos e na simplicidade de expressão, que motivaram este povo a utilizar a natureza como suporte para executar memoráveis obras de arte. Ao longo da história, no oriente e no ocidente da mesma forma, a beleza das flores adicionou graça e charme na vida das pessoas. A pesquisa analisa a arte japonesa e sua ligação inseparável com a religião, abordando principalmente os aspectos do sagrado, o conceito do belo e a real função do artista de Ikebana. / This research intends to show Ikebana by being an esthetic manifestation of art, that been walking side by side with all stages of Art History. To understand the esthetic of Ikebana, will be demonstrated by example, the contemporary artist Toshiro Kawase, the Zen study and its characteristics. Toshiro Kawase is an artist specialized in Ikebanas Art, and his production inspired two international books: Inspired Flower Arrangements (1990) and The Book of Ikebana (2000). The Japanese art is based on emotions and expression simplicity that motivated this people to use the nature like a support to execute memorable works of art. In all parts of history of the art, in occident and in the orient at the same way, the beauty of flowers added grace and charm in peoples life. The question is: Why do Ikebanas art appeared only in Japan or related to Japanese? This research, analyses the Japanese art and its unbreakable link with religiosity, often the sacred aspect, the definition of beauty and the real functionality of the artist. This research also presents aspects of the principal objective of art, and how to do its communication purposing the perpetuation of his human experiences.

Esta pesquisa visou possibilitar o conhecimento da Ikebana como uma manifestação estética significativa, integrante da história da arte japonesa e que vem se disseminando pelo mundo. Para compreensão da sua estética, será demonstrado como exemplo o trabalho do artista contemporâneo Toshiro Kawase, o estudo do Zen e suas características. Toshiro Kawase é um artista especializado na arte da Ikebana, e suas obras resultaram em dois livros de âmbito internacional: Inspired Flower Arrangements (1990) e The Book of Ikebana (2000). A arte japonesa é baseada nos sentimentos e na simplicidade de expressão, que motivaram este povo a utilizar a natureza como suporte para executar memoráveis obras de arte. Ao longo da história, no oriente e no ocidente da mesma forma, a beleza das flores adicionou graça e charme na vida das pessoas. A pesquisa analisa a arte japonesa e sua ligação inseparável com a religião, abordando principalmente os aspectos do sagrado, o conceito do belo e a real função do artista de Ikebana. / This research intends to show Ikebana by being an esthetic manifestation of art, that been walking side by side with all stages of Art History. To understand the esthetic of Ikebana, will be demonstrated by example, the contemporary artist Toshiro Kawase, the Zen study and its characteristics. Toshiro Kawase is an artist specialized in Ikebanas Art, and his production inspired two international books: Inspired Flower Arrangements (1990) and The Book of Ikebana (2000). The Japanese art is based on emotions and expression simplicity that motivated this people to use the nature like a support to execute memorable works of art. In all parts of history of the art, in occident and in the orient at the same way, the beauty of flowers added grace and charm in peoples life. The question is: Why do Ikebanas art appeared only in Japan or related to Japanese? This research, analyses the Japanese art and its unbreakable link with religiosity, often the sacred aspect, the definition of beauty and the real functionality of the artist. This research also presents aspects of the principal objective of art, and how to do its communication purposing the perpetuation of his human experiences.

This dissertation examines a phenomenon that arose in modern Japanese art and architecture in the late 1920s and early 1930s, which I term “integrated art.” I argue that “integrated art” was a distinct genre of art characterized by several impulses toward totality: the unification of multiple artistic media, the melding of art and its viewership, and most notably, the collapse of traditional Japanese arts (the “past”) with modernism (the “present”). “Integrated art” was indebted both to 19th century European notions of the Gesamtkunstwerk (the "total artwork") that had begun circulating in Japan in the 1900s, and to tea and other Japanese art practices. It also a particular local response to the rapid modernization and disorienting Westernization of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The genre’s fascination with the “past” sprouted from a growing concern over the preservation of Japanese culture in modern times, and a perceived disconnect between extant practices of fine art and cultural identity. To define this genre of total art, I examine three cases that can be understood as “integrated art”: the “total flowers” of ikebana master Teshigahara Sōfū (1900-1979), the teahouse-inspired structures of architect Horiguchi Sutemi (1895-1984), and the stage performances of the artist collective Jikken Kōbō (active 1951-1957). The sum of these three artistic practices gives shape and weight to the amorphous tendency of “integrated art,” making its characteristics and goals visible. By conducting visual analyses of each case study’s works, their photographic documentation, and related writings, I show that each creator or group of creators pursued an intangible—and largely impossible—totality: a holistic, timeless Japanese art practice that resolved the fractured, modern present. In doing so, I offer a narrative of modern Japanese art that not only traverses diverse media and practices, but also interrogates the aesthetic and political stakes of traditional arts, modernism, and totality. Questions of totality permeate modernism in various regions of the world—by analyzing “integrated art,” this study not only enriches our understanding of these transnationally linked ideas, but also celebrates the cultural particularities of total art in pre-World War II through early postwar Japan.