Japanese have loved flowers since ancient times.  Okada said, “If flowers are arranged in every place, they will greatly heal people's minds.” He himself grew flowers in his garden and frequently arranged flowers in rooms in his house.
The flowers arranged by him served as the base of the Sangetsu School of Flower Arrangement. Today about 200,000 students are learning and enjoying Sangetsu flower arrangement in Japan and other countries around the world. The school’s basic philosophy is not to be confined to formalism but to derive the inherent power of flowers by respecting nature. Its students often volunteer to arrange flowers in public places and many of them grow flowers in their gardens and planters, pleasing people in their communities.