My Years as a Copyist in Taiwan

Chapter 85 Mr. Snail's "Wabi-sabi"

Cai Cai was also carrying a bag, a brown leather bag, square in shape, a classic LV style.

How is this any different from a primary school student carrying a briefcase to school? And Cai Cai, why are you putting so much powder on your face?

Zhao Wen's face turned red from holding back laughter, but he couldn't hide the smile in his eyes.

Akina Nakamori wasn't really stupid: "Sir, are you laughing at me?"

She knew her outfit looked strange.

But Hanami-san said that Mr. Snail likes intellectual and elegant women, and doesn't like chattering little girls. She also said that Mr. Snail is essentially a very profound cultured person, and only women with inner beauty truly appreciate him.

Akina was starting to believe it, or rather, she dared not disbelieve it.

Who is Hanami-san? He's a top-notch manager who brought Yan-yin from nothing to where she is today... And, would someone who's been so good to me, like a father, really harm me?

Besides, as Mr. Snail once said, there's a famous Chinese saying: "Try it, it won't make you pregnant."

"No, why would I laugh at Akina-chan? Uh, do you think I should laugh at you?"

"Oh~" Akina puffed out her cheeks, her signature expression: the little lion emoji.

Seeing Zhao Wen smiling as he spoke to Akina, Hanami Tsuru was extremely pleased. Indeed, knowing yourself and your enemy is the key to victory in every battle!

Hua Jianhe and Zhao Wen had only met once, on the day he signed his official actor employment contract with the "Love Letter" production team.

At this moment, he very naturally stepped forward and bowed, expressing his welcome to Mr. Snail, and then gestured with both hands for Zhao Wen to look towards the courtyard.

Dry landscape garden, what's so strange about that?

However, upon closer inspection, Zhao Wen did discover something different from usual: a withered branch, a few white chrysanthemums, a few leaves, and a few pieces of iron were placed in the niche in the courtyard, some sparse and some dense, some high and some low. The vigor of the withered branch and the gentleness of the white chrysanthemums contrasted sharply, reminiscent of the style of the Sogetsu School.

"The Sogetsu School?" When Zhao Wen wrote Tokyo literature in his previous life, he had researched a lot about the schools of "wabi-sabi" and "mono no aware," so he just flipped through his memory and blurted it out.

"Clap clap clap clap..." Four or five rounds of enthusiastic applause rang out in the courtyard, followed by lively hushed discussions.

"See? This is the extent of Mr. Snail's knowledge. He knows everything about Japanese culture!" Hanami Tsuru praised generously and stepped forward to introduce the people who were clapping to Zhao Wen.

The leader is the master Hanami Tsuru invited today, a famous master of the Sogetsu school, Ichitanaka Nigi, who is over sixty years old and is highly regarded in the Tokyo flower arrangement world.

Sogetsu School is the most avant-garde school of Japanese flower arrangement, daring to use anything from wire and stones to metal sheets, making it a rather pioneering style. But Zhao Wen's enthusiasm for this "barbecue restaurant"—no, Yachiyo Ryotei—wasn't for its so-called "wabi-sabi" ambiance. He frequented it simply to eat the grilled sea bream.

This courtyard is nothing special, I just don't understand why little Japan is so obsessed with this desolate and withered atmosphere, and even considers it beautiful.

Its name is Mono no Aware (the pathos of things).

"Mr. Snail, please give me your guidance!" Tanaka Futari looked at Zhao Wen with great admiration, hoping that he would offer "positive suggestions" on his work, or in other words, give him a thumbs up, Mr. Snail.

"It's alright. It's just... a bit too full."

The entire room fell silent.

Although Mr. Tanaka did not dare to show his displeasure on the spot, he clearly lost his joy.

The Sogetsu school is already the most avant-garde. Mr. Snail, although you are indeed great in the world of novels, "too much?"... What right do you have to judge the affairs of the flower arrangement world!

President Hanami was a little embarrassed: "Mr. Snail means... it has a unique flavor?"

Zhao Wen shook his head: "No, it's just too crowded. Every branch and every flower has its place and its function, leaving no room at all. It looks exquisite, but it's suffocating."

Wabi-sabi and mono no aware are indeed core concepts of Japanese aesthetics, but tracing their origins, their spiritual matrix actually comes from Chinese Zen Buddhism and the aesthetics of Song and Yuan literati painting. In terms of the depth of artistic conception and the weight of history, there are many aesthetic achievements in China that Japanese wabi-sabi gardens can never reach, such as the Suzhou gardens, which are the pinnacle of literati Zen.

And then there's West Lake in Hangzhou—a breathtakingly beautiful scene!

Even the most extreme neon-lit wabi-sabi aesthetics still retain the beauty of a "small courtyard." West Lake, on the other hand, transforms an entire city into a garden.

The Broken Bridge in Lingering Snow, Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake, and Spring Dawn on the Su Causeway—these ten scenic spots form a complete aesthetic system that embodies the concept of "harmony between man and nature."

The concept of "mono no aware" (the pathos of things) speaks of "the sorrow of loss," while the essence of West Lake is "seeing eternity in loss."

—In terms of overall structure, it has already surpassed the awkwardness of small Japan.

Furthermore, Zhongnan Mountain and Wutai Mountain, as the origins of Zen Buddhism, are where the Japanese Zen school was transmitted from China, and the spiritual roots of wabi-sabi are also located.

The Zen of Japan is "Zen in the courtyard," while the Zen of China is "Zen between heaven and earth."

So what's the point of trying to be Zen and artistic conception in front of your ancestors?

Tanaka Futari couldn't hold back any longer: "Mr. Snail, could you demonstrate one?"

Zhao Wen quickly answered, "Okay, I'll chime in too..."

Everyone quieted down. No one dared to underestimate him. After all, to say that Mr. Snail's fame was "at its zenith" would be an understatement. Mr. Snail had long since become a figure that made the entire Japanese literary world feel despair.

In Japan, writers hold a top-tier social status, far surpassing those skilled in flower arrangement or tea ceremony.

Zhao Wen didn't touch the expensive flower vases or the carefully prepared flowers. He took a few thin wires that Tanaka Nigi had prepared, a few withered bamboo branches, and a few discarded, slightly wilted flowers.

Everyone was stunned—a barbed wire? Withered bamboo? Wilted wildflowers?

Zhao Wen didn't say anything, he just started working.

His fingers flew, twisting out an irregular cubic frame, crooked and uneven, with one side higher than the other, and a few wires deliberately left long and sticking out.

Then he broke the withered bamboo branches into pieces of varying lengths and tied them to the frame with thin wire. They weren't tied neatly; some were scattered here and there, some horizontal, some diagonal, and some were simply hanging there as if they might fall at any moment.

Finally, he picked up the few wilted wildflowers—there were only three in total, and they were different colors—and casually stuck them in a few spots on the frame. One was stuck at the very top, one hung in mid-air, and the other was simply placed on the ground at the bottom of the frame, without even being "stuck."

This technique is called structural floral art. It was created by the German Gregor Rosch in the 90s, spread to Japan in 2000, and became a hit in mainland China in 2010. If you put it in Tokyo in 1982, and used a future aesthetic and a future design language to create the aesthetic of mono no aware, it would be an extraterrestrial creation, a dimensional attack.