Human life and the universe continue to mutate constantly and are thought of as essentially impermanent. This sense surely originates in the Japanese climate, with its strong sensation of the four seasons. Spring eventually turns into summer, which in turn gives way to autumn and winter, when life temporarily sleeps. The Japanese aesthetic of impermanence is a reflection of such changes.

Moreover, this vivid sense of constant mutation is by no means conceived negatively: on the contrary, people take pleasure in entrusting themselves into this flow of constant change.

Houses made out of preference from easily inflammable, easily decaying materials such as wood, bamboo, earth and paper rather than from permanent materials such as stone, and devices such as fusuma sliding doors and byobu folding screens, which are movable and form part of a continuum with the area outside the space in which they are located, possess an uncertain quality which the Japanese aesthetic is happy to subsume.

The sense of the temporary and transient (ka) reflects a willingness to live positively by entrusting oneself to the flow of nature while at the same distancing oneself appropriately from nature. It comes not from a feeling of being resigned for the time being to the way things are but from a view of the universe and a sense of order which accepts that everything is essentially temporary and transient.

We see here an aesthetic awareness that is prepared to accept things as they are and is willing to trust to the flow of nature. This approach is wholly different from that adopted in the West, where life is conceived as being led in opposition to nature.

	The sukiya is a building made principally from wood, bamboo, earth and paper which is able to evolve naturally through its fusion with nature. We see here the spirit of taking pleasure in natural decay rather than any aspiration toward permanence.
	This is a typical interior space in a traditional Japanese house. As in the case of the akari-shoji doors which constitute the outer walls, the fusuma sliding doors, which partition off the interior space, are made of paper. The idea is of a temporary space in which the interior space as a whole is linked to the outside.
	This is a ryurei (a table with a seat as used in performance of the tea ceremony) designed by Masayuki Kurokawa. It is a piece of furniture made of an akari-shoji in the manner of a traditional Japanese house turned inside out. Made from wood and paper, it lets in light and serves itself to provide light. If a tabletop made of washi paper gets dirty or breaks, it can be simply replaced.