The Japanese Aesthetic Concept of Wabi-sabi (侘寂)

Wabi-sabi (侘寂) has always been considered as the essence of Japanese conception of beauty. Although the words wabi and sabi are always linked together, they are two individual aesthetic concepts that should be understood separately. Wabi (侘), which means “tranquil simplicity”, suggests that one should remain unprivileged, poor and primitive, in other words, not to be dependent on worldly and artificial attachments – wealth, power, fame, reputation and materialism – and yet “to feel inwardly the presence of something of the highest value, above time and social position.”(1) Wabi is the manifestation of the beauty in nature untouched by human hands, thus, the very naturalness and austerity. The appearance of an object does not determine its wabi as it may be ornamented, altered or artificial. As Prusinski pointed out, “the beauty of wabimust be taken into account with the feeling in and essence of itself. There is beauty in its state of being rather than only from the observer’s subjective view.”(2) A person does not necessarily embody the essence of wabi either as they can be dressed according to their social status, and cultivated and trained under particular rules, manners and etiquettes. Anything that is managed, articulated and artificial does not bear the aesthetics of wabi.

While wabi stresses on the sophisticated yet precarious subtle line between beauty and shabbiness, and appreciates the intrinsic attribute of an object, sabi (寂) sees beauty through the rust, desolation, imperfection as well as the perishing and feeble state of an object. A newly-made object, which is a “manipulated” artificial product created from organic natural materials, is undoubtedly beautiful. Yet, what gives it aesthetic value and meaning of existence is its fate to wear and perish. As Itoh described, “Indeed, sabi is at its ultimate when age and wear bring a thing to the very threshold of its demise. Appreciation of sabi confirms the natural cycle of organic life – that what is created from the earth finally returns to the earth and that nothing is ever complete. Sabi is true to the natural cycle of birth and rebirth.”(3) It is exactly this subtle conception – to destroy artificiality and appreciate the intrinsic quality and unaffected simplicity of nature – that makes the Japanese aesthetics of sabi so extraordinarily spiritual and heart-stirring.

京焼・伊藤南山＆書・川瀬みゆき「ふたり展」 （２０１４年３月２２日～３０日）

行書の「侘寂」（わびさび || wabi-sabi）

(photo taken from: http://blog.kawasemi-style.com/?month=201404)

References:

(1) Daisetz T. Suzuki, Zen and Japanese Culture (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1970), 23.
(2) Lauren Prusinski, “Wabi-Sabi, Mono no Aware, and Ma: Tracing Traditional Japanese Aesthetics Through Japanese History,” Studies on Asia Vol. 2 (2012): 29.
(3) Itoh Teiji and Tanaka Ikko, Wabi sabi suki: the essence of Japanese beauty, trans. Lynne E. Riggs (Hiroshima, Japan: Mazda Motor Corp., 1993), 7.