This timeless guide to Japanese flower arranging and appreciation is a must have for Japanese garden enthusiasts.

Enjoyed by young and old, rich and poor, hanami, or flower-viewing, is an integral part of the Japanese people's appreciation of beauty in nature, and plays an important role in their social life as well. The love of all flowers, particularly the cherry blossom, has for centuries dwelt in the hearts of the Japanese. People find pleasure in donning fine clothes and, in the carefree mood of spring, in going on flower-viewing excursions to noted cherry groves and temple grounds, where a veil of pink blossoms covers lightly and lovingly the face of their island home.

These excursions are not limited to one section of the country or one season of the year. The love of nature is a national characteristic and flowerviewing, more than a pleasant pastime, is a national tradition. And though cherry-blossom time is perhaps dearest to the Japanese, they also find symbolic beauty in pine trees that like devout old pilgrims tarry to rest on the rocky seashore, and in deep ravines where autumn winds swirl the red and golden maple branches and leave them quivering from their flight.