By Kristin Scheer
Analisa Colom-Todd, an Ikebana artist in Kansas City, talked with us during the Aug. 4 “Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki” event at Loose Park.
Analisa told us her mother was born in 1930 in Numazu, a port city in central Japan doing ship repair and producing munitions at the base of Mount Fuji. Analisa noted about a US bombing during World War II, “That attack destroyed my mother’s hometown and separated her family.”
Analisa said that her mother and her mother’s father were separated from the rest of the family for a year. In that year, her mother, Sachiko, was influenced by a new form of Ikebana—the art of Japanese floral arranging. This form of Ikebana called Sogetsu used more unconventional materials in their floral arrangements, as traditional materials were often unavailable in post-war Japan.
“My mother, Sachiko, died of liver problems we now believe a direct result of her exposure during the war and post-war in Japan,” Analisa said. Before her mother’s death, Analisa and Sachiko taught this Sogetsu form of Ikebana right here at Loose Park. Analisa carries on the tradition and still teaches here today.
“Come to the Japanese festival on Saturday, October 5th,” she invited us. “You will see our Ikebana creations and much more Japanese culture right here in the KC area,” at Johnson County Community College (see kcjapanfestival.org).
Kristin Scheer, an environmental activist, serves on the PeaceWorks KC Board. (c) 2024, Kristin Scheer, Analisa Colom-Todd, Jim Hannah, Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International License.
