The basic meaning of the word shizen, commonly translated as nature, may be regarded as the power of spontaneous self-development and its results, in keeping with the kanji used to represent the concept, which in themselves mean from itself, thus it is: it is an expression of the state of being, rather than the existence of some natural order. Interestingly, the word shizen is not found in archaic Japanese as a term for nature, which would indicate that the ancient Japaneswe people recognized natural phenomena as manifestations of the kami[i]. The terms ametuchi (heaven and earth) and ikitoshi ierumono (living things) served as the closest archaic terms for nature.
One interpretation of the Nihon shoki (c. 720 A.D.) holds that the first children of the primeval couple Izanagi and Izanami were not kami like their parents but rather islands; thus, human beings were not considered to be either superior or in opposition to nature as is common to Western notion of the relationship of man and nature. Rather, the lives of men were seen to be embedded in nature; that is, part of nature itself, as frequently expressed in numerous Japanese cultural and art forms such as Zen painting, sumi-e brush painting, cha-no-yū (the tea ceremony) and ikebana or the art of flower arranging.
In nature, both subject and object are fused into a single reality, something frequently demonstrated in haiku. The Western concept of nature, a natural order, did not exist in Japan until the opening of Japan to Western ideas and influence in the Meiji Era
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[i] Kami (神 ), most simply defined are all-powerful entities worshiped by people. It is the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces or essence, common to Shintō, found in the oldest written Japanese record of creation, the Kojiki (c. 712 A.D.)
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