KO

also called Koryu, one of the four major schools of floral art in Japan. Dating from the Tokugawa period (16031868), the Ko school developed the shoka style of the earlier Ikenobo school into a more naturalistic type of arrangement. Calling the arrangements seika rather than shoka, the Ko school retained the tall, narrow-mouthed type of vase used in the shoka arrangements of the Ikenobo school. The mood of the arrangements was known as nageire, a fresh and spontaneous style that adheres only loosely to the classical rules of structure.