Japan : Beauty
Japan has swept me off my feet. I am blown away by the infinite beauty I sense everywhere.
We have traveled through the country from town to town, saving the big cities Tokyo and Kyoto for the last part of the trip. When finally arriving in Kyoto it was the culmination of everything and beauty especially. Aesthetics and visual arts are definitely worth studying in Japan, however they are not my primary focus in this post. Watch the slideshow at the bottom of the post or go directly to the flickr set (in progress).
I feel the japanese culture is permeated with what in essence is beauty. Beauty in the shape of loving care, consideration and attentive humbleness, flowing through everything. Like a thread from the spirituality of the countless temples and shrines all through to the careful way money is exchanged in a shop.
Our purpose of the trip to Japan is to experience Sakura, the blossoming of cherry trees, and the festive Hanami when all japanese go and sit in the parks under the cherry blossoms.
In lack of language we quickly learned the word for thank you ‘Arigato’ and used it repeatedly in all situations, in an almost excusing way to cover our rude western behavior and missing knowledge of japanese culture and manners.
The Shinkansen train being one of our first japanese experiences, we were affected by the respectful bows of the train crew each time they entered and left the train carriage. Continuing on our trip I soon tried to incorporate little respectful bows myself when moving around and interacting amongst people in Japan.
See also post Shining Shinkansen
And then we were introduced to the phenomenon of Wabi-Sabi.
In short this speaks about the beauty in the imperfection and impermanence of all things. An example is about a tea cup that has gotten a little crack. In stead of throwing the cup away, a little gold is added to the crack, enhancing the flaw and making the whole cup more beautiful. Wauw!
This made the beauty of Japan make sense in another inexplicable way. And adding another little brick of understanding the intriguing japanese culture.
It was confirming my feeling of beauty interweaved with a deeper universal meaning.
Beauty with a spiritual dimension, sensing the spirit that permeates through the japanese culture, and the deep respect and care for people, the world and all actions.
All adding to the beautiful whole.
The spirit of beauty. Full of meaning. Very beautiful.
[ultimate-photo source=”flickr” type=”set” set=”72157631053447928″ uid=”70387739@N00″ display_link=”1″ size=”640″ style=”slideshow” num=”20″ slideshow_style=”2″ fixed_height=”1″ remove_np=”1″ align=”center” ]
