1. Listings and jottings

    Most likely to succeed in defining Japanese aesthetics is a net of associations composed of listings or jottings, connected intuitively, that fills in a background and renders the subject visible.

  2. We have been given a standard

    We have been given a standard to use. It is there, handy daily: things as they are, or Nature itself. This makes good sense, the only sense really—Nature should be our model.

  3. Merely ornate

    There is nothing merely ornate about nature: every branch, twig, or leaf counts.

    I might counter with the example of something like the birds of paradise‚ where being ornate and ostentatious is really the whole deal.

  4. Mimesis

    Realism played small part in the realities of life as experienced by the traditional Japanese artist. The expectations of the artist's cultivated sensibilities did not demand mimesis. Rather, indication, suggestion, simplicity took the place of any fidelity to outward appearance.

  5. Cherry blossoms

    Cherry blossoms are to be preferred not when they are at their fullest but afterward, when the air is thick with their falling petals and with the unavoidable reminder that they too have had their day and must rightly perish.

    Immortality, in that it is considered at all, is to be found through nature's way. The form is kept though the contents evaporate.

  6. Wabi-sabi

    Sabi is an aesthetic term, rooted in a given concern. It is concerned with chronology, with time and its effects, with product.

    Wabi is a more philosophical concept, a quality not attached merely to a given object. It is concerned with manner, with process, with direction.