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| Tractate On Japanese Aesthetics | |
| Zuihitsu - Japanese word that might translate to “essay” implies just that - following the brush, allowing it to lead. | |
| Japanese Aesthetics is more concerned with the process than with the product, with the actual construction of a self rather than self expression. | |
| The western concept finds beauty in something we admire for itself rather than for its uses, something that Kant called “[purposeiveness without a purpose] |
Nothing is stable, and our only refuge is to accept this and maybe to celebrate this.
In Japanese tradition it was though there was an agreement that the nature of Nature could not be presented through literal description. It could only be suggested, and the more subtle the suggestion the more tasteful the work of art. It was not like elsewhere, where nature was restricted to mimesis, realistic reconstruction.
Kant - beauty laid in the art work itself and not any evaluation of it. Hume said beauty was the result of education and experience. Men of taste were in a position to assess worth and beauty. ’
Sen no Rukyu - japanese tea-master and arbiter of elegance, credited with development of japanese aesthetic of simplicity. He reduced the size of teahouse, and introduced rough black teabowls know as a raku ware. “Tea ceremony is nothing more than boiling water, steeping tea and drinking it.”
Simplicty - this was something that Rikyu tried to teach his pupil, Hideyoshi at whose “court” he was arbiter. One famous anecedote illustrates this method. Rikyu’s garden of morning glories was known for its beeauty. Hearing of it, Hideyoshi demanded that he be invited to visit. So he was, but when he arrived the morning glories were no more; they had all been scythed. Perturbed, Hideyoshi returned to the nearby teahouse and there a modest flower arrangement of a single morning glory, the only survivor, superb in its focused simplicity. The warlord is supposed to have stared, then nodded, and said he understood the lesson.
Aware - originally akin to an interjection, like “ah, or oh” expressing emotion but also a controlled feeling. When applied to aspects of nature, or life or art, to move a susceptible individual to an awareness of the ephemeral beauty in a world in which change is the only constant.
Mono no aware - a deep empathetic appreciate of the ephemeral beauty manifest in nature and human life, and therefore often tinged with ah int of sadness (though also occasinally admiration, awe and even joy)
Yugen - “rheingold - an awareness of the universe that triggers feelings too deep and mysterious for words” “on an autumn evening, where there are no color in the sky, nor any sound and although we cannot give any reason for it, we are somehow moved to tears.”
The average person would find nothing moving about such a scene. He could admire only the cherry blossoms and the maple leaves. This is because he lacked the sensibility to discern the beauty of pathos that yugen expresses. This can only occur, when many meanings are compressed into a single word, when an unseen world hovers in the atmosphere… when a poetic conception of rare beauty is developed to the fullest extent in a style of surface simplicty”
Arthur Waley - {Yugen} means what lies beneath the surface, the subtle as opposed to the obvious, a hint, as opposed to a statement. It is applied to the natural grace of a boy’s movements, to the gentle restraint of a nobleman’s speech and bearing. To watch the sun sink below a flower-clad hill, to wander on and on in a huge forest with no thought of return, to stand upon the shore and gaze after a boat that goes hidden by far-off islands… such are the gates of yugen.
https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/1139/CEAS.1971.n10.pdf;jsessionid=254F13675873C425BC8230069097829C?sequence=1 Reprinted from THE JOURNAL OF AESTHETICS AND ART CRITICISM (Vol. XXX/l) Fall, 1971 (pp. 55-67) Zeami and the Transition of the Concept of Yugen: A Note on Japanese Aesthetics by Andrew A. Tsubaki
Yugen was initially from no theater and represented the concept of “gentle grace” The beauty of Yugen at this later stage changed from obvious to subtle.
The beauty of Yugen penetrates through the wall of restraint. The original Chinese term yugen meant “to be so mysteriously faint and profound as to be beyond human perception and understanding.
ate - refinement, gentility, based on exalted status aware - the aspects of nature (or life, or art) that move a susceptible individual to an awareness of the ephemeral beauty of a world in which change is the only constant bigaku - equivalent to “aesthetics” ga - neatness, propriety, elegance hade - loud and showy, but not necessarily garish haiku - a short poem offering a concentrated observation of time and nature hosomi - emotional delicacy, a determination to slight not even the most trivial, to under the beauty of just anything jimi - good taste in an understated, plain style karei - gorgeous splendor karumi - the beauty of simplicity, the unadorned expression of profound truths kodai - antiquity miyabi - the strong appreciation for beauty, refinement, and elegance mono no aware - slightly sweet and sad quality as appreciated by an observer sensitive to the ephemeral nature of existence “the pity of things” mujo - buddist concept suggesting impermence sabi - a slightly bleak quality, suggesting age, deterioration or the passage of time wabi - a cultivated aesthetic that finds beauty in simplcity yugen - rich and mysterious beauty