Wabi | Sabi
^ Tsukubi waterbasin for hand washing
Two women chat, hands on knees, rags under hands. Shellaced by the passing of time, their hands polish away remnants of each day's activity. You can tell that the floors of the hallways at Tenrikyo Church, in Tenri City, have been cared for for decades. The attention to detail and the prolonged care for this place was palpable. Walking throughout the church in socks, feeling the beautiful wood under foot, helped connect me to the place, though I was only a visitor.
In the simple beauty of the wood architecture, we humans can connect in that space and in time. We are all observing the same rustic garden gate at the same time in its life. It is a reminder that we are all a part of the processes of life - that something does not get worse with age, rather, it absorbs something else - the wisdom of time - at it ages.
An aged wood railing at Tenroky Church. >
This - the concept of Wabi | Sabi (侘寂) - could be seen at nearly any garden in Japan:
Wabi: "beauty found in simplicity, solitude, tranquility."
Sabi: "beauty found in what is naturally aged and weathered."
Especially at Saiho-ji Temple. Also known as Koke-Dera, or "Moss Temple" its very essence is one tripping with the patina of time. The walls, the stone pathways, all carry this. The garden is incredible serene, the addition of misty weather further muffled sounds to give us all the impression we were there alone.
The central pond - Ougonchi - is the heart of the garden; its form is literally in the shape of the Chinese character (心) for "heart." Around the pond are various bamboo and wood features - bridges and gates - that are aged yet cared for. Everything is covered in moss. Landscape gardeners are quiet;y working throughout the garden in silence. One is carefully using what appear to be chopsticks to remove fallen leaves from the moss.
This could also be seen in the vast simplicity of the gravel at Ryōan-ji (龍安寺) temple's rock garden. One could spend a lifetime contemplating the patina of the plaster wall (sabi) or the simplicity of the rock forms (wabi):
