For a long time, I knew I was frustrated about something in ikebana. But I did not know exactly what in ikebana I was frustrated about. Once, I got so confused and I mistakenly thought I might not be able to enjoy ikebana itself.

Gradually, I began to understand my frustration came from the system surrounding ikebana, particularly the pyramid scheme that I wrote in my previous blog. If I separated ikebana from the system, I realized I actually deeply love ikebana. The time when I try to let flowers live was the most beautiful and inspiring moment in my daily life. Hoping to create opportunities for others to purely enjoy ikebana without struggling with the system, I started to IKERU.

At the same time, I also thought it would not be right to totally dismiss the existing ikebana system. Though it has some problems, it has worked to let the ikebana tradition survive in the post-war period. In other words, without the existing system, I might not have met ikebana. If it had not been for ikebana, my life would have been much less interesting. For that, I am grateful for the system.

Acknowledging the dysfunctions in the current ikebana system, I wanted to create a new model. But I also wanted to find a way to return to the existing system, particularly to my master, who is a headmaster of "koryu-shoreikai" faction. I did not want to be a disrupter. I wanted to be a pioneer who was also respectful to the existing system.

First, I decided that I would personally remain in the system, meaning that I would keep paying and climbing the ladders of the never-ending levels if asked and keep participating in the ikebana exhibitions arranged by the faction. This decision, though not cheap, has been easy, as it is all about me.

Second, I decided to make small changes that I could make in the faction. I started with the new year's party. This annual event had been so formal and restricting and for some years I managed to find excuses not to attend it. Rather than trying to escape from it, I decided to do things to make the event more fun and relaxing. I changed the venue. I became an MC. I made a short movie to introduce the year's new shihan-masters. This has been less easy than the first decision as this needs to get other involved. I met a bit of resistance in the beginning, which taught me people were to be against any change even if the change was small.

Third, I decided to ask those who came to IKERU regularly and passionately whether they would be interested in pursuing shihan. I explained everything about the system in advance - how much in total they would have to pay to reach shihan level and what was about becoming shihan master - all of which I was not told at all when I was pursuing shihan. I told them my frustration about the system as well. To my great surprise, eight people said they would be interested. Most of them were in their 20s.

These days, very few people start learning ikebana, so even my master, the faction's headmaster, has one or two new people every year. Many of the experienced senior teachers only teach those who have practiced ikebana for years. The faction itself has now only dozens of people. So the addition of eight new people was a big thing. In the faction, I became a master with the second-largest number of students after the headmaster. (If we look at the entire IKERU community, there are already over 150 people in it, which actually makes IKERU larger than the faction itself.)

This pleased the faction which had struggled to acquire new people. It also benefited it financially. It is like I have expanded the ikebana market through IKERU and a part of the expanded market has become a market for the existing model. On the surface, it is a win-win. It is not like business cannibalization, which new business deprives the entire userbase of the existing business.

However, I felt something was wrong. It was like asking those who had enjoyed ikebana outside the system to go into the system, though I made sure that they were fully informed (unlike me and my other lesson-mates in the faction) and were not forced.

This feeling of "something wrong" got stronger when I was actually benefited financially by letting them pursue shihan in the system, as some percentages of the money that the eight IKERU participants paid to the headmaster were returned to me. Now I am officially a beneficiary of the pyramid scheme, the system to financially incentivize shihan masters to train their apprentices to become shihan, the very system that I had resisted for a long time.

For a while, I did not know what to do. Then, I realized that the amount of money I received through the pyramid scheme was almost equal to the money the IKERU participants had to pay as "thank you money" to the headmaster. This "thank you money" practice, which is deeply embedded in various Japanese traditional arts, was another thing that I had been annoyed for a long time. None says you have to pay this money because it is "thank you money" like a tip, but if you do not pay, you are treated as someone without a common sense. And there are so many unspoken and unexplained rules on how much you are supposed to pay, what kind of envelope you should use, how you should write your name on the envelope....this practice was something that I did not want force IKERU participants to do.

Then, I had an idea that I myself would pay the thank you money the IKERU participants were supposed to pay to the headmaster, using the money I received through the pyramid scheme. By doing this, I would be able to show respect for (and bring money to) the existing system while keeping some sound distance from the system as well.

Doing something new in things with a long history has its own and unique challenge. Often times, you are torn between your vision for the future and your obligation to the past. One way is to reject the past and create a totally new world. I could have done this. Maybe I just do not have enough courage to make this choice. But I believe my way lies in finding a delicate balance between future and past, new and old, and innovative and traditional.