Healing Visitor Engagement Activities: Ikebana Flower Arranging, Sumi-e Painting, and Senryū Poetry

Visitors creating ikebana floral arrangements after a site tour with the park ranger.

By Micah Hetherington, Friends of Minidoka Graduate Research Fellow

This summer, Friends of Minidoka worked with National Park Service staff to engage with park visitors and educate them on historically relevant art forms: ikebana, senryū poetry, and sumi-e painting. Through these visitor engagement activities, Friends of Minidoka heightened our visibility with the public and gave people space to quietly reflect on the history and emotional nature of the site.

Ikebana is a Japanese tradition of artful flower arranging with roots in Shinto religion and a deep respect for nature. It began around the sixth century when Chinese merchants introduced Buddhism and kuge, or simple flower displays, were used to honor the Buddha. To create ikebana at Minidoka, incarcerees utilized both found materials and cut flowers from their personal gardens. Foraged plants, like sagebrush, pine branches, native grasses, and cattails, reflected the high desert around them. Some made vases out of greasewood and stone. Incarcerees hosted ikebana shows at Minidoka in 1943 and 1944, and classes were held on various schools of ikebana and paper flower making.

Senryū poetry typically reflects on human nature and weaknesses. Poetry written from inside Minidoka focused on loss, resistance, and the importance of community while incarcerated. Similar to senryū, sumi-e painting became an outlet for people to process their grief through meditative artwork. The word “sumi” translates to black ink and “e” to painting, so the direct translation of sumi-e is black ink painting. Art shows held in camp brought together the community in a celebration of creative endeavors and preserving their Japanese heritage.

Crafting ikebana, senryū poetry, and sumi-e painting allowed incarcerees to connect with their Japanese ancestry despite efforts to erase it. Especially after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, pressure on people of Japanese ancestry to homogenize with white America was severe; anything Japanese in origin was seen as unpatriotic, and many incarcerees destroyed their family heirlooms and photographs in fear of retaliation. Through artwork, music, dance, and food, Minidoka incarcerees reclaimed traditions held dearly to them.