the Tang dynasty and the Nara period, we shall recognize a
constant striving after symmetry. The decoration of our classical
interiors was decidedly regular in its arrangement. The Taoist and
Zen conception of perfection, however, was different. The dynamic
nature of their philosophy laid more stress upon the process through
which perfection was sought than upon perfection itself. True
beauty could be discovered only by one who mentally completed
the incomplete. The virility of life and art lay in its possibilities
for growth. In the tea-room it is left for each guest in imagination
to complete the total effect in relation to himself. Since Zennism
has become the prevailing mode of thought, the art of the extreme
Orient has purposefully avoided the symmetrical as expressing not
only completion, but repetition. Uniformity of design was considered
fatal to the freshness of imagination. Thus, landscapes, birds, and
flowers became the favorite subjects for depiction rather than the
human figure, the latter being present in the person of the beholder
himself. We are often too much in evidence as it is, and in spite
of our vanity even self-regard is apt to become monotonous.

In the tea-room the fear of repetition is a constant presence.
The various objects for the decoration of a room should be so
selected that no colour or design shall be repeated. If you have
a living flower, a painting of flowers is not allowable. If you
are using a round kettle, the water pitcher should be angular.
A cup with a black glaze should not be associated with a tea-caddy
of black lacquer. In placing a vase of an incense burner on the
tokonoma, care should be taken not to put it in the exact centre,
lest it divide the space into equal halves. The pillar of the tokonoma
should be of a different kind of wood from the other pillars, in order
to break any suggestion of monotony in the room.