A young geisha under cherry blossoms, a clear sky, the smooth surface of a lake, and a little house on the shore. This exquisite picture, in which there is nothing superfluous, embodies for the Japanese the concept of “sabi.” The inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun use the word “sabi” to represent genuine beauty in its most ordinary manifestations. The appreciation of nature and of art was elevated by the Japanese to the level of philosophy. In the twelfth century, the poet Fujiwara no Teika wrote a poem that is recognized as an example of “sabi”:
When I look into the distance,
I see neither cherry blossoms,
Nor variegated leaves,
Only a squalid hut on the shore
In the twilight of the coming autumn night.
The Sabi lapidary card combines the brevity and subtlety that are so valued by the Japanese.