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‘Perfection is not achieved when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.’ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Although written by the french writer of ‘Le petit prince’, this is truly an eastern point of view.
What Japanese people appreciate as perfection or beauty is not a white technically perfect shaped object. In all craftswork (pottery, calligraphy, flower arranging) you should see the hand of the maker, nature related ‘imperfection’. But this ‘imperfection’ should be done perfectly.
This kind of contradiction is essential to Japanese art. Art is reshaping nature, but with humility.
Perfection, according to Junichiro Tanizaki (see post 28 sept), is the old Japanese toilet.
‘The parlor may have it’s charms, but the Japanese toilet truly is a place of spiritual repose’.
Standing apart from the house, chilly in wintertime, mosquitos in summertime, but these inconveniences are not compared to the dim light coming through the shoji (paper sliding doors), sound of the raindrops falling, feeling close to nature.
‘Here, I suspect, is where haiku poets over the ages have come by a great many of their ideas.’
 My toilet is also apart from the house, but unfortanuly doesn't have these qualities
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