D O C U M E N T 3 9 2 D E C E M B E R 1 9 2 2 3 3 9 manifested the particular characteristic preference for the charming and the dainty that is especially prominent in Japanese painting and design of products for every- day life. I was most greatly affected by the music when it served as accompaniment to a theater piece or a mime (dance), particularly in a Noh play. What stands in the way of the development of Japanese music into a major form of high art is, in my opinion, a lack of formal order and architectonic structure. To me,[26][27] the area of most magnificence in Japanese art is painting and wood carving. Here it is properly revealed that the Japanese is a visual person delighting in form, who untiringly refashions events in artistic form, converted into stylized lines. Copying nature in the sense of our realism is foreign to the Japanese, just as is religious repudiation of the sensual, despite the influence[28] of Buddhism from the Asian continent, which is intrinsically so foreign to the Japanese mind. For him, everything is experienced in form and color, true to Nature and yet foreign to Nature insofar as stylization broadly predominates. He loves clarity and the simple line above all else. A painting is strongly perceived as an integral whole. But among the great impressions I had during these weeks, so few could I mention,[29] saying nothing about political and social problems. On the exquisite- ness of the Japanese woman, this flower-like creature—I was also silent [30] for here the common mortal must cede the word to the poet. But there is one more thing I have at[31] heart.[32] The Japanese rightfully admires the intellectual achievements of the West and immerses himself successfully and with great idealism in the sci- ences. But let him not thereby forget to keep pure the great attributes that he pos- sesses over the West: the artful shaping of life, modesty and unpretentiousness in his personal needs, and the purity and calm of the Japanese soul. 392. From Yuanpei Cai Peking, 8 December 1922 Esteemed Professor Einstein, The news about your wanderings and activities in Japan are being followed here with great interest and the whole of China is ready to welcome you with open arms. You surely do still remember the arrangement you made with us through the intermediary of the Chinese envoy in Berlin, and will also carry it out, as we in joy- ous anticipation hope.[1]