People

Ikebana (flower arranging) artist. Yukio Nakagawa did not belong to any Ikebana school, nor did he take on apprentices, but instead devoted himself fully to exploring the life of flowers. He is known for works such as ‘Blues’, in which he arranged a whole Chinese cabbage, and ‘Hana Bozu’, in which he stuffed 900 red carnations into an upside down glass vessel, which then seeped red liquid onto Japanese paper underneath as the flowers in the vessel began to decompose.
Nakagawa first collaborated with Kazuo Ohno in 1991, when Kazuo performed ‘Flower Mandala’ with Nakagawa’s flowers at Gallery TOM in Shibuya (Tokyo). He continued to collaborate with Kazuo after this, sometimes with ikebana, sometimes with calligraphy. In 2002, Nakagawa fulfilled a long-held dream of raining a million tulip petals from the sky along the Shinano riverbed at Echigo-Tsumari in Niigata. Amidst the rain and falling petals, 95-year-old Kazuo Ohno danced from his favourite white chair.