Abstract

Nature in both China and Japan is a place of knowledge; there is not a creator God, but identity between man and nature. There is no separation, but contact, homology. Nature is the model to be followed, and to get inspiration from, the way that leads to spiritual perfection. The connection between nature and art is very close. Spiritual evolution together with the artistic technique occour through commitment and a rigorous exercise; ultimately, the way of art becomes a path, a process that can lead to enlightenment or, as Ōnishi says, to grasp «the mystery of the infinite cosmic life in the fluctuating experience of natural phenomena» that is, to know the universal self, the self of nature.