爲減輕壓力 日本男性重拾花道藝術

Japan's traditional, female-dominated art of flower arranging is returning to its masculine roots, for an entirely modern reason: it's become a way for male employees to prune away their stress.

Ikebana, or "the way of flowers," dates back more than 500 years and first blossomed among male artisans and aristocrats.

Aimed at creating harmony between man and nature as well as heightening the appreciation of the rhythms of the universe, arrangements are conducted in silence using only organic elements put together in a minimalist style.

And it's this creativity and spirituality that has attracted thousands of Japanese men to reclaim the art form that has more recently been associated with women.

"Nowadays there are a lot of people seeking something that makes them feel at ease," said Gaho Isono, a master ikebana instructor at Sogetsu, founded in 1927 and one of the first schools to offer flower arranging courses to men.

"There are many hobbies people can do now and there's no longer the preconception that men cannot arrange flowers. They are free to choose whatever they like and the number of men choosing flowers is actually increasing."

Japanese society has traditionally put much emphasis on hard work and employees regularly put in long hours in the office, which increases the risk of depression, mental health organizations say.

The nation, which has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, even has a term for death by overwork -- karoshi -- making stress-relieving activities such as ikebana all the more popular.

Flower compositions arranged according to the traditional principles of ikebana are said to represent the relationship between heaven, mankind and earth.

There are an estimated 3,000 ikebana schools across Japan with some 15 million enthusiasts, most of whom see flower arrangement as an antidote to their hectic lives.

"Each time when the class starts at first I feel tired from work," said male student Koji Takahashi, 45.

Some men have spent years mastering the art form and now teach new students the therapeutic effects of ikebana.
日本女性主導的傳統插花藝術如今正向其男性源頭回歸。而其迴歸的原因則十分“現代”：插花成爲男性排解工作壓力的一種方式。

日本“花道”可追溯到500多年前，最初在男性工匠和貴族中流行。

花道旨在加深人們對宇宙韻律的感受，創造人與自然的和諧，插花者以簡約爲道，採有機素材爲原料，在默然之間形成花之道。

正是花道的這種創造性和靈性吸引了日本成千上萬的男性重拾這一近代以來以女性爲主導的藝術形式。

創建於1927年的“草月流”插花學校的花道大師磯野雅邦說：“當今社會，很多人都在尋求能讓自己身心放鬆的東西。” 草月流花道學校是最早面向男性開設插花課程的學校之一。

“現在人們可以有很多愛好，而且認爲男性不應該從事花道的觀念也不復存在。他們可以自由選擇自己的愛好，而選擇花道的男性數量其實正在上升。”

心理健康組織說，強調努力工作是日本社會的一大傳統，人們一天的大部分時間都在辦公室裏度過，從而增加了患抑鬱症的風險。

日本是世界上自殺率最高的國家之一，甚至還出現了一個形容過度工作而致死的詞彙——“過勞死”，這讓類似花道的減壓活動更受歡迎。

據說，根據花道傳統原則插出的花束象徵着天、人、地之間的關係。

目前，日本全國估計有三千家插花學校和約1500萬名插花愛好者，他們中的大部分人都將插花視爲減輕忙碌生活壓力的一種方式。

45歲的花道學員高橋浩治說：“因爲工作原因，每次剛上課的時候，我都感到十分疲倦。”

一些男性花費數年時間掌握了這門藝術，現在他們則向新學員們傳授花道的治療功效。

Vocabulary:

ikebana: Japanese flower arranging, that has strict formal rules （日本）插花術，花道

minimalist: an artist, a musician, etc. who uses very simple ideas or a very small number of simple things in their work 極簡抽象派藝術家；簡約主義者

preconception: an idea or opinion that is formed before you have enough information or experience 事先形成的觀念；先入之見；預想；成見

all the more:更加

antidote: anything that takes away the effects of something unpleasant 消除不愉快的事物；矯正方法

therapeutic: helping you to relax 有助於放鬆精神的