Hosoe Kodama

This is Frank Vinluan's story:

Monday, October 16, 2000

Hosoe Kodama `doctor of flowers,' flourished to 106

Frank Vinluan, Seattle Times staff reporter

Madame Hosoe Kodama was a "doctor" of flowers. A practitioner of ikenobo, a Japanese art form of flower arrangement, Mrs. Kodama displayed her work at exhibitions and flower shows throughout the Northwest, and she earned "sokatoku," the field's highest scholarly degree. Later, Japanese officials expert in flower arrangement granted her the title "madame" in honor of her lifetime achievements.

But as accomplished as she was in her own right, Mrs. Kodama worked to teach others how they might do the same."She was the foremost teacher in the state of Washington," said her daughter Nobie Chan of Seattle. "Her arrangements were huge and absolutely astounding."

Mrs. Kodama, founder of the Washington State Ikenobo School of Japanese Flower Arrangement, died from a stroke Oct. 5 at Providence Seattle Medical Center. She was 106.

But four years before that, in 1996, another Filipino Frank wrote about Hosoe for the Seattle PI: