Kika Shibata's life has been filled with ikebana since she was four years old. She was immersed in Sogetsu ikebana as she learned from her mother, Shoka Narimatsu, a Sogetsu master teacher. She moved to the USA as a teenager and continued her studies here with her mother, and in Japan with Kasumi Teshigahara, the future Sogetsu Iemoto.

In 1967 Kimi received her teacher's certificate and her flower name Kika. In 1989 she earned the title Riji, the highest degree offered by the Sogetsu School of Ikebana. Soon afterward, in 1990, Headmaster Hiroshi Teshigahara named her Deputy Director of the Sogetsu San Jose-South Bay Branch. She accepted further leadership roles in 1996 when she became the Regional Director of North America. In 2003 she also became the Director of the Sogetsu San Jose-South Bay Branch.

Her dedication to the art of ikebana is shown in her involvement in many personal, local and international Sogetsu events. She currently serves as Vice President of the Ikebana Shoka-Kai Society and is an active member of Ikebana International. She will be one of the featured demonstrators at Ikebana International's North American Regional Conference in May 2008 in Monterey, California. Kika conducts workshops and gives demonstrations throughout the country and in Japan. She was awarded the Sogetsu International Award for Sogetsu's 80th Anniversary. She teaches both adults and children and her great love and enthusiasm for ikebana always communicates joyfully with her students and audiences.