The author Kenko put forward the most peculiar Japanese of aesthetic principles:
Beauty is indissolubly bound to its perishabilityHe wrote: " If man were never to fade away like the dews of Adashino, never to vanish like the smoke over Toribeyama, but lingered on forever in this world, how things would lose their power to move us. The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty"
What a profound statement!
This inspired my to take the following picture of my fading orchid:
I didn't know that cherry blossoms ( as opposed to plum or peach blossoms) are priced because it is so short-lived. I haven't really seen one before, other than those in Japan Hour.
To end off, here is a food for thought:
Are we to look at cherry blossoms only in full bloom,
the moon only when it is cloudless?
1 comment:
Hello Sir... just re-read this post after a long time and was inspired by that statement as much as u were..
Sadly, in this consumer age, we do link value of something to its perishability and thus something cannot be beautiful or meaningful if it were a brief occurance. Sad reality of life..
Keep on reading... keep on blogging.. always a nice read and a deviation from the bores of life
~Isaac
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