The appreciation of line is characteristic in all Asian art, and is true in the sensibility of kado [the Japanese art of flower arrangement] that favors beautiful, flowing lines over the Western taste for mass, complexity, and color. This appreciation is manifested in flower arrangements through a balanced variety of moving lines similar in feeling to that linear beauty expressed in the brush-strokes of Japanese minimalist ink painting.

In terms of form, unlike many Western arrangements that strive for perfect symmetry, kado strives for a balance of opposites, favoring asymmetrical beauty over symmetrical arrangements. This dynamic balance is created through the positioning of moving lines or stems that fall into many triangular or pyramidal shapes.