This page includes links to articles and pictures of the scrapbook entitled Japan 1951-1953 & 1956

This scrapbook, the first of six in the Ellen Gordon Allen Collection, documents Mrs. Allen’s first visit to Japan when she joined her husband, General George Allen, for his tour of duty.  It was there she discovered the captivating art of ikebana and began her studies at the Ohara School under the tutelage of Mrs. Hoga Fujiwara.  Photographs of Mrs. Fujiwara’s class and Mrs. Allen being presented with her teacher’s certificate by Headmaster Houn Ohara are included.

In between tours in Japan and Rome, the Allens went to Camp Gordon, Georgia, where Mrs. Allen taught her first ikebana class and wrote a book of ikebana instruction, “Japanese Flower Arrangement, in a Nutshell, a Primer.”

In 1956 Mrs. Allen returned to Japan directly from Rome to continue her ikebana studies, which now included the Ikenobo and Sogetsu Schools in addition to Ohara.  It was at this time that Mrs. Allen realized her dream of an International organization for ikebana, and Ikebana International was founded on August 17, 1956, in Tokyo, Japan.

This file contains all the pictures in the album in a single PDF format that you can print. 

SB01- Japan 1951-1953 & 1956

To see individual pictures go to

this album.  

To download a picture, select it, click on the menu represented by three vertical dots on the right-hand corner, select DOWNLOAD and save it to a file on your device.

The scrapbook materials are presented in two formats.  A PDF file in text and a picture gallery where each page or two pages were captured as .jpeg files.   .tiff files also exist and may be used for future projects where high-quality pictures are needed, but these are not added to this website. If you need access to the .tiff files, please contact either the historian or the web administrator.