Born in Tokyo, Koka Fukushima began her study of Sogetsu ikebana in 1960. Unofficial ambassador of Japanese culture, she has been giving ikebana demonstrations and workshops under the sponsorship of the Sogetsu School, the Japan Foundation, Ikebana International, and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for forty years in almost eighty cities and in over forty countries. She was awarded the FY2013 Foreign Minister's Commendation for her contributions to the promotion of friendship between Japan and other countries. Janine Beichman received her doctorate from Columbia University, specializing in Japanese poetry. Her publications include biographies of Masaoka Shiki and Yosano Akiko, a translation of Ōoka Makoto's anthology of Japanese poetry and a volume of Ōoka's own poems, as well as her original Noh play Drifting Fires
Koka Fukushima brings her lifelong love of flowers to readers around the world in these forty-eight tales. Her deep sense of love for plants animates her words and conveys to the reader the luminosity and richness of her ikebana. -Akane Teshigahara, Iemoto, Sogetsu School of Ikebana, Tokyo Koka-sensei's generosity in sharing what she knows is unlimited. Anyone who reads this book will have a new and wonderful feeling for the forty-eight flowers that are the subjects of these tales. -Norman H. Tolman, The Tolman Collection, Tokyo Even before opening your elegant book, I knew that I was in for a treat and it certainly lived up to expectations. -Marion Maule, International lecturer and ardent admirer and promoter of Japanese culture, London