Sublime

Rilke était difficile à joindre. Il n’avait pas de maison, pas d’adresse à laquelle il eût été possible de le chercher, pas de foyer, pas de domicile fixe, pas de bureau. Il était toujours en chemin de par le monde et personne, pas même lui, ne savait à l’avance quelle direction il allait prendre. Pour son âme d’une délicatesse extrême et sensible

Visit Murin-an (just west of Nanzen-ji), one of Kyoto’s most peaceful and beautiful gardens, but often overlooked by tourists. (◙ www.murin-an.jp/en ☼7.30am-6pm but varies so check website, ¥410)

It was at this time that the first four-and-a-half-tatami mat tearoom (each mat being approximately six feet by three feet) was made within the Silver Pavillion (Ginkakuji).

Wabi can describe the feeling generated by recognising the beauty found in simplicity. It is a sense of quiet contentment found away from the trappings of a materialistic world.

This is what you find in any work by mangaka Jiro Taniguchi, any book by Haruki Murakami, and in movies by Akira Kurosawa. Sand and rock gardens are an example of wabi-sabi.