Japanese Culture: Identity and Tradition

It's influence traditionally and also in modern times.

Aware / mono no aware
The beauty of pathos, poignancy, sensitivity to things, the capacity to be moved emotionally by things.
An inherent pathos/poingancy of life. Inherently fleeting, insubstantial (and therefore lonely) nature.
It is this that in the beginning Japanese poets saw as the highest form of Aesthetic impression.

Waka (classical, court poetry) this is the central element / aesthetic of the tale of Genji.

In oldest use an exclamation of surprise or delight, but then gradually becomes a reaction tinged with melancholy/poignancy/sadness.

In the Manyooshuu, mid 8th century) it is most commonly used to express the emotion evoked in poets on hearing the melancholy call of birds and animals.

Kokinshuu (905), perceive the brevity of life by observing nature.

"to the quiet and the ephemeral beauty of a dew touched garden in the morning"
This sensitivity to things as central to the refined elegance (miyabi) which was the key element in the life / behaviour of the courtier and court lady.

My early medieval period (late 12th, early 13th) the association of aware with sadness and loneliness (sabi) had become particularly strong.

Aware/ mono no aware the most fundamental aesthetic concept in Japanese culture.

Yuugen
The beauty of mystery and depth, profundity, the mystery and profundity of existence.

Suggestion / understatement / intimation / symbolism gesturing towards great depth. Towards things that cannot be grasped or expressed in language. Towards the eternal or spiritual.

Associated not only with Noh theatre, but also poetry. Monochrome / ink painting, Zen gardens, the Tea Ceremony and te arts of the medieval period. But most chiefly associated with the Noh theatre.

Manifested in Noh through
It's a symbolic theatre, not based on direct realism. Through stillness and minimalist movements of the actor. This is because it is meant to prompt the viewer into a consideration of the profound.

Developed primarily out of a shift in the late Heian / early Kamakura periods towards placing the highest value in poetry on lingering on emotion or resonance (yojoo), depth and mystery through suggestion.

[There are some beautiful examples in the slides. ]

Wabi / Sabi
The two are
Wabi - Lack, deprived, poverty stricken.
Sabi - loneliness, the desolate, oldness and agedness, fadedness.

Associated with most of the art forms and artistic practices of the medieval period (kamakura, Muromachi) but in particular, as sabi, with poetry (renga and haiku [primarily bashoo].

The wabi aesthetic in the Tea Ceremony.
-Simple, aesthetic, unpretentious beauty.
Lack of adornment of utensils, chashitsu and the practice of the ceremony itself.
Evokes elemental, pure beauty. An elemental beauty. Transcendent.

Imperfect, irregular beauty.

Austere, irregular beauty.
Rigourous simplicty and lack of adornment in the tea utensils.

Overview -- Essays in Idleness (つれずれぐさ）
Kamakura - Muromachi Period

Aware, Yuugen, wabi/sabi. These three concepts are interconnected.

These three are the most important aesthetics in Japanese culture, and have played the most significant role.