wabi-sabi represents a comprehensive japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience. the aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”. it is a concept derived from the buddhist assertion of the three marks of existence ( 三 法 印 ), specifically impermanence ( 無 常 ). note also that the japanese word for rust, 錆 , is also pronounced sabi, and there is an obvious semantic connection between these concepts [wiki].