Beauty in Decay

Following on from the previous post about the Japanese aesthetic, a couple of images, one of a magnolia and the other of a camellia in our garden, the flowers weather-beaten and faded, washed out by the March rain; illustrating an artistic philosophy that, for the Japanese, provokes melancholy meditations about the transience of life. 
To me, it's primarily about beauty in decay; beauty in the process from young, delicate bud, full of the anticipations of life, to the glorious full bloom, right through to the fading and ultimately withering flower. It is the process of life, and all the successive stages are beautiful in their own right.