This series of Yanagi's essays was a lovely exploration of beauty and craft, especially the essays entitled "Irregularity": "Why should one reject the perfect in favor of the imperfect? The precise and perfect carries no overtones, admits of no freedom; the perfect is static and regulated, cold and hard. We in our own human imperfections are repelled by the perfect, since everything is apparent from the start and there is no suggestion of the infinite" ( 120). I think that my favorite essay is "The Buddhist Idea of Beauty," which includes: "Passing time cannot affect an object that is truly beautiful" (131) and "...anyone who admires Sung pottery or Coptic textiles is admiring without knowing it, the Buddha's signature. Anyone who is moved by the beauty of folkcraft is in reality being moved by the invisible power that lies beneath the surface" (136).
Later, in a section entitled “Shibusa” (a word that suggests quiet, pure austerity), Yanagi writes, “All works of art, it may be said are more beautiful when they suggest something beyond themselves than when they end up being merely what the are” (150). In this same vein, he later asserts: “Beauty dislikes being captive to perfection” (151), my favorite sentence in the book.


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This series of Yanagi's essays was a lovely exploration of beauty and craft, especially the essays entitled "Irregularity": "Why should one reject the perfect in favor of the imperfect? The precise and perfect carries no overtones, admits of no freedom; the perfect is static and regulated, cold and hard. We in our own human imperfections are repelled by the perfect, since everything is apparent from the start and there is no suggestion of the infinite" ( 120). I think that my favorite essay is "The Buddhist Idea of Beauty," which includes: "Passing time cannot affect an object that is truly beautiful" (131) and "...anyone who admires Sung pottery or Coptic textiles is admiring without knowing it, the Buddha's signature. Anyone who is moved by the beauty of folkcraft is in reality being moved by the invisible power that lies beneath the surface" (136).
Later, in a section entitled “Shibusa” (a word that suggests quiet, pure austerity), Yanagi writes, “All works of art, it may be said are more beautiful when they suggest something beyond themselves than when they end up being merely what the are” (150). In this same vein, he later asserts: “Beauty dislikes being captive to perfection” (151), my favorite sentence in the book.


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I have the 1978 edition -hardcover, cream coloured leather. I especially loved the sections on Raku pottery. ( )