Japanese art always leaves something out, so that we may put it in. Therefore it is never soothing. It is peaceful only if we look for peace, violent if we are afraid of violence. Japanese art never states the antithesis. It is always holding the mirror up to something that has no image. In order to show a field, you must draw a wood. In order to enjoy a valley, you must see only a mountain. It is a habit of mind, and the reason why it does not dally with abstraction, is that it has always taken abstraction for granted. It is reality, there, which must always be shown, because it is always in doubt. And because it is in doubt, it can never be shown, it can only be suggested, as something beyond what one is looking at. It strives to make us aware of reality by showing appearances for the contrivances they are. But this is not realism. Realism is only a distoritian of reality. - David Stacton, *Segaki*