40696
A native speaker of Japanese wrote in English about a place offering "Kadou",
and referred to it in Japanese as 華道. I wanted to suggest using the word
"ikebana" instead, as that's more likely to be understood by the intended
audience. ([Google
NGrams](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=ikebana%2CJapanese%20flower%20arrangement%2C%20flower%20arrangement&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cikebana%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CJapanese%20flower%20arrangement%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cflower%20arrangement%3B%2Cc0)
suggests "ikebana" and "[Japanese] flower arrangement" are approximately
equally common in English, for those curious)

However, I've never done ikebana, and I'm not sure whether the English word
"ikebana" would be a suitable translation for 華道. The word 華道 is pronounced
かどう, whereas the word pronounced いけばな in Japanese is 生け花. Is it generally ok
to translate 華道, along with 生け花, into English as "ikebana"? Is there any
significant difference between 華道 and 生け花 that'd mean such a translation is
confusing?

Looking at the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article
[華道](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%8F%AF%E9%81%93) and the first sentence
of the English Wikipedia article
[Ikebana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikebana) suggests not.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-06T02:47:42.980
40692
2016-11-06T10:07:22.957
91
question
translation
Is the English word "ikebana" a suitable translation for "華道"?
I feel there is some difference between 生け花 and 華道 in terms of their image
even if they imply similar activities. A dictionary says ～道 means

> 専門を究めて一派を立てた技芸 (Arts or crafts which established a school (branch) of art or
> craft through researching the subject). For example, 芸道, 茶道, 書道 and 剣道, etc.

I feel 生け花 is to enjoy flower arrangement with a light heart and 華道 has a high
threshold than 生け花.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-06T05:01:41.363
40696
2016-11-06T10:07:22.957
2016-11-06T10:07:22.957
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answer
This is as much an English usage question as it is a Japanese language
question. In practice, "ikebana" is the better-known term for formal schools
of flower arrangement among English speakers, even including Japanophiles. The
term 華道 is not so well known so it may be confusing.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-06T05:26:54.513
40697
2016-11-06T05:26:54.513
583
40692
answer