生け花をします does it mean to practice flower arranging?

Question

In my Minna no Nihongo book (Chapter 12), it says that 生け花をします means to practice flower arrangement. If that is so, they how do you expressing, "flower arranging or arranging the flowers or doing flower arrangements"? An example sentence.

• X: What are you doing right now?
• Y: I'm doing flower arrangements for tonight.

Answer 1

Here is my guess, but please forgive me if it contains mistakes:

X: What are you doing right now?

Y: I'm doing the flower arrangements for tonight.

X: 今、何してんの？

Y: 今晩のため、生け花をしています。

But if you are interested in a more ambiguous meaning:

Y: I'm doing flower arrangements for tonight.

(could mean practicing them for later tonight or actually doing them for tonight)

Y: 今晩の生け花をしています。

Edit: I had suggested 今晩の生け花をしておきます as a possible translation, but upon hearing other opinions, I think this would mean "I will do the Ikebana arrangement for tonight." For further examples of ~ておきます see: http://j-learning.com/diapo//L30diapo.pdf

In your quoted example, します can mean "practice," but does not explicitly mean this. 生け花をします can also mean "to do Ikebana flower arranging." For a more explicit expression of practice, one can use 練習.

As per Taro Sato's example:

今夜の生け花の練習をしています。

I am practicing Ikebana for tonight.

Answer 2

There is a difference between doing the flower arrangements for an event and practising the art of 生け花 which is also known as 華道. Based on the the wikipedia definition (below) I suspect that referring to making the flower arrangements for a concert/event/room/church (or even the Chelsea flower show) as 生け花 is akin to describing a visit to Buckingham Palace for tea with the Queen as 茶道 (the tea ceremony).

When arranging flowers as a decoration but not practicing 生け花　the more correct expression is probably:

テーブルに花を飾る , To adorn/decorate a table with flowers

When referring to the flower arrangements in say a church or a room the correct expression for the flower arrangements is 花の装飾

Based on the the following sentences in Space ALC:

しかし、花を飾るのはすべて独学です。

However, his flower arranging was completely self-taught.

私はもっとクリエイティブな花の装飾をやりたかったんです。

I wanted to do more flower arranging that required more creativity.

There are a number of ways of saying "I am now doing the flower arrangemnents for tonight." depending on the context and scale of the operation but if this is a small event (say a table at a party) then the following would suffice:

今、今夜の花の装飾をしています。 "I am now doing the flower arrangemnents for tonight."

If you are practicing Ikebana for some event (possibly a demonstration) then the following would be appropriate:

今夜の生け花の練習をしています。 I am practicing Ikebana for tonight.

Definition in wikipedia:

More than simply putting flowers in a container, ikebana is a disciplined art form in which nature and humanity are brought together. Contrary to the idea of floral arrangement as a collection of particolored or multicolored arrangement of blooms, ikebana often emphasizes other areas of the plant, such as its stems and leaves, and draws emphasis toward shape, line, form. Though ikebana is a creative expression, it has certain rules governing its form. The artist's intention behind each arrangement is shown through a piece's color combinations, natural shapes, graceful lines, and the usually implied meaning of the arrangement.