Japanese aesthetics
Japanese aesthetics comprise a set of ancient ideals that include wabi (transient and stark beauty), sabi (the beauty of natural patina and aging), and yūgen (profound grace and subtlety).[1] These ideals, and others, underpin much of Japanese cultural and aesthetic norms on what is considered tasteful or beautiful. Thus, while seen as a philosophy in Western societies, the concept of aesthetics in Japan is seen as an integral part of daily life.[2] Japanese aesthetics now encompass a variety of ideals; some of these are traditional while others are modern and sometimes influenced by other cultures.[1]
Shinto and Buddhism
[edit]Shinto is considered to be at the fountain-head of Japanese culture.[3] With its emphasis on the wholeness of nature and character in ethics, and its celebration of the landscape, it sets the tone for Japanese aesthetics. Until the thirteenth century, Shinto remained the main influence on Japanese aesthetics.[4] In the Buddhist tradition, all things are considered as either evolving from or dissolving into nothingness. This "nothingness" is not empty space. It is rather a space of potentiality.[5] If the seas represent potential then each thing is like a wave arising from it and returning to it. There are no permanent waves. At no point is a wave complete, even at its peak. Nature is seen as a dynamic whole that is to be admired and appreciated. This appreciation of nature has been fundamental to many Japanese aesthetic ideals, "arts," and other cultural elements. In this respect, the notion of "art" (or its conceptual equivalent) is also quite different from Western traditions (see Japanese art).
Wabi-sabi
[edit]Wabi and sabi refer to a mindful approach to everyday life. Over time their meanings overlapped and converged until they were unified into wabi-sabi, the aesthetic defined as the beauty of things "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete".[5] Things in bud, or things in decay, as it were, are more evocative of wabi-sabi than things in full bloom because they suggest the transience of things. As things come and go, they show signs of their coming or going, and these signs are considered to be beautiful. In this, beauty is an altered state of consciousness and can be seen in the mundane and simple. The signatures of nature can be so subtle that it takes a quiet mind and a cultivated eye to discern them.[6] In Zen philosophy there are seven aesthetic principles for achieving Wabi-Sabi.[7]
Fukinsei (
不 均斉 ): asymmetry, irregularity;Kanso (
簡素 ): simplicity;Koko (
考古 ): basic, weathered;Shizen (
自然 ): without pretense, natural as a human behaviour;Yūgen (
幽玄 ): subtly profound grace, not obvious;Datsuzoku (
脱俗 ): unbounded by convention, free;Seijaku (
静寂 ): tranquility, silence.
Each of these things are found in nature but can suggest virtues of human character and appropriateness of behaviour. This, in turn suggests that virtue and civility can be instilled through an appreciation of, and practice in, the arts. Hence, aesthetic ideals have an ethical connotation and pervades much of the Japanese culture.[8]
Miyabi
[edit]Miyabi (
The aristocratic ideal of Miyabi demanded the elimination of anything that was absurd or vulgar and the "polishing of manners, diction, and feelings to eliminate all roughness and crudity so as to achieve the highest grace." It expressed that sensitivity to beauty which was the hallmark of the Heian era. Miyabi is often closely connected to the notion of Mono no aware, a bittersweet awareness of the transience of things, and thus it was thought that things in decline showed a great sense of miyabi.
Shibui
[edit]Shibui (
Shibusa includes the following essential qualities:
1. Shibui objects appear to be simple overall but they include subtle details, such as textures, that balance simplicity with complexity.
2. This balance of simplicity and complexity ensures that one does not tire of a shibui object but constantly finds new meanings and enriched beauty that cause its aesthetic value to grow over the years.
3. Shibusa is not to be confused with wabi or sabi. Though many wabi or sabi objects are shibui, not all shibui objects are wabi or sabi. Wabi or sabi objects can be more severe and sometimes exaggerate intentional imperfections to such an extent that they can appear to be artificial. Shibui objects are not necessarily imperfect or asymmetrical, though they can include these qualities.
4. Shibusa walks a fine line between contrasting aesthetic concepts such as elegant and rough or spontaneous and restrained.
Iki
[edit]Iki (いき, often written
Jo-ha-kyū
[edit]Jo-ha-kyū (
Yūgen
[edit]Yūgen (
Yūgen suggests that which is beyond what can be said, but it is not an allusion to another world.[11] It is about this world, this experience. According to Zeami Motokiyo, all of the following are portals to yūgen:
"To watch the sun sink behind a flower-clad hill.
To wander on in a huge forest without thought of return. To stand upon the shore and gaze after a boat that disappears behind distant islands. To contemplate the flight of wild geese seen and lost among the clouds.
And, subtle shadows of bamboo on bamboo."
Zeami was the originator of the dramatic art form Noh theatre and wrote the classic book on dramatic theory (Kadensho). He uses images of nature as a constant metaphor. For example, "snow in a silver bowl" represents "the Flower of Tranquility".
Geidō
[edit]Geidō (
Ensō
[edit]Ensō (
Aesthetics and Japan's cultural identities
[edit]Because of its nature, Japanese aesthetics has a wider relevance than is usually accorded to aesthetics in the West. In her pathmaking book,[13] Eiko Ikegami reveals a complex history of social life in which aesthetic ideals become central to Japan's cultural identities. She shows how networks in the performing arts, the tea ceremony, and poetry shaped tacit cultural practices and how politeness and politics are inseparable. She contends that what in Western cultures are normally scattered, like art and politics, have been, and are, distinctly integrated in Japan.
After the introduction of Western notions in Japan, Wabi Sabi aesthetics ideals have been re-examined with Western values, by both Japanese and non-Japanese. Therefore, recent interpretations of the aesthetics ideals inevitably reflect Judeo-Christian perspectives and Western philosophy.[14]
Japanese aesthetics and technology
[edit]As one contribution to the broad subject of Japanese aesthetics and technology, it has been suggested that carefully curated high speed camera photographs of fluid dynamics events are able to capture the beauty of this natural phenomenon in a characteristically Japanese manner.[15]
Gastronomy
[edit]Many traditional Japanese aesthetic criteria are manifest in, and discussed as part of, diverse elements of Japanese cuisine;[16] see kaiseki for a refined expression.
Kawaii
[edit]A modern phenomenon, since the 1970s cuteness or kawaii (
As a cultural phenomenon, cuteness is increasingly accepted in Japan as a part of Japanese culture and national identity. Tomoyuki Sugiyama, author of Cool Japan, believes that "cuteness" is rooted in Japan's harmony-loving culture, and Nobuyoshi Kurita, a sociology professor at Musashi University in Tokyo, has stated that cute is a "magic term" that encompasses everything that's acceptable and desirable in Japan.[18]
See also
[edit]- Big in Japan
- Cuteness in Japanese culture
- Japanese sword
- Honkadori
- Ishin-denshin
- Japanese garden
- Ikebana
- Japanese music
- Mono no aware
- 5S (methodology)
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Japanese Aesthetics (Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy)". Retrieved 2009-06-10.
- ^ "Teaching Japanese Aesthetics". Archived from the original on 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
- ^ Herbert, Jean (1967). Shinto; at the fountain-head of Japan. Stein and Day. ASIN B0006BOJ8C.
- ^ Prusinski, L. (2012). "Wabi Sabi, Mono no Aware, and Ma: Tracing Traditional Japanese Aesthetics through Japanese History". Studies on Asia. Series IV. 2 (1): 25–49. S2CID 190461627.
- ^ a b Koren, Leonard (1994). Wabi Sabi for artists, designers, poets and philosophers. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 1-880656-12-4.
- ^ "What Is Wabi-Sabi?". Archived from the original on 2007-05-02. Retrieved 2007-04-01.
- ^ "The nature of garden art". Archived from the original on 2008-08-07. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
- ^ a b Carter, Robert E. (2008). Japanese arts and self-cultivation. New York, NY: SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-7254-5.
- ^ "Taste of Japan". Archived from the original on 2007-04-30. Retrieved 2007-04-01.
- ^ Zeami. "Teachings on Style and the Flower (Fūshikaden)." from Rimer & Yamazaki. On the Art of the Nō Drama. p20.
- ^ "Zeami and the Transition of the Concept of Yūgen" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-12-08.
- ^ Seo, Audrey Yoshiko; Addiss (1998). The Art of Twentieth-Century Zen. Stepen. Boston: Shambhala Publications. ISBN 978-1-57062-358-5
- ^ Ikegami, Eiko (2005). Bonds of Civility: aesthetic networks and the political origins of Japanese culture. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-60115-0.
- ^ "Japan - the society". Retrieved 2008-12-07.
- ^ Tosa, Naoko; Yunian Pang; Qin Yang; Ryohei Nakatsu (21 March 2019). "Pursuit and Expression of Japanese Beauty Using Technology". Arts. 8: 38. doi:10.3390/arts8010038. hdl:2433/250219.
- ^ Japanese Foodways, Past and Present, University of Illinois Press, 2010, By Eric C. Rath, Stephanie Assmann
- ^ Diana Lee, "Inside Look at Japanese Cute Culture Archived 2005-10-25 at the Wayback Machine" (September 1, 2005).
- ^ Quotes and paraphrases from: Yuri Kageyama (June 14, 2006). "Cuteness a hot-selling commodity in Japan". Associated Press.
Further reading
[edit]- Murase, Miyeko (2000). Bridge of dreams: the Mary Griggs Burke collection of Japanese art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 0-87099-941-9.