So much fun over the past three weeks, full of intense work, travel, training for performance enhancement, accomanying French guest to meetings and visits!! In a way, I was stressed out about my bad performance due to overload on one of key report I was to produce, but I knew it was one of the lessons to learn, so even though I was stressed out, I was okay.
Great thing about accompanying non-Japanese guest on visit is that Japanese people try to explain the special features about whatever they are trying to explain in as simple way as possible, often making comparison with non-Japanese examples, and because I did not receive higher education in Japan, it is wonderful way for me to learn.
One of memorable learning I had last Sunday is that of learning the features of beauty by Japanese. We visited Kiki-Rakuza, and there, Yamaguchi-san explained to us the difference between Japanese ceremics and Chinese and European ceremics. Chinese and Europeans pursue perfection in their work, thinner plates, symmetrical shape, flawless painting on the plate. Japanese purposefully bring in warp and uneven texture to their work, painting simple but not repeated.
Features of beauty in ceremics. Yamaguchi-san said, Japanese don't like perfectness in ceremics. They don't like perfect people. I had a glimps of buddahism when I heard her say that, because nature is really not perfect. World is not really perfect. Nothing happens in planned, neat, clean way. But it is in this uneveness, this imperfection lies beauty of life, through imperfection one learns to appreciate other imperfect things. I fell in love with the concept of Japanese ceremics, because it is such true expression of all living things, perhaps all of universe. Yes, people are same, like all plates are same. But like Japanese ceremics, people are each so unique, so different, so imperfect, so beautiful.
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