The Japanese writing form, hiragana, was created roughly 1000 years ago based on the kanji imported from China. They are not only visual simplifications on kanji by stroke of the various stems and parts, but have no meaning on their own, mostly only have one pronunciation, and thus are simplified in many dimensions. Simplification, in terms of removing, can also be seen in the Japanese ideology of wabi-sabi, the subtleties, that come from Zen where Dharma stands as the founder. This is a method of altering things into a Japanese form. This form was highly appraised by Bruno Taut, and has inspired modern architectural movements such as the Bauhaus.