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Wabi-Sabi - beauty found in imperfection
Wabi-Sabi - beauty found in imperfection
POSTED JANUARY 8, 2019
“Wabi-sabi nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.” - Richard Powell, Wabi Sabi Simple (2004)
Contrary to the ancient Greece's celebration of an idealized perfect beauty, Japan's aesthetic sensibility finds beauty in imperfection.
Contrary to the ancient Greece's celebration of an idealized perfect beauty, Japan's aesthetic sensibility finds beauty in imperfection.
Wabi-sabi represents a Japanese world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”. It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence, specifically impermanence, suffering, and emptiness. [1]
Wabi-sabi represents a Japanese world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”. It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence, specifically impermanence, suffering, and emptiness. [1]
A combination of two old words, wabi-sabi expresses this Buddhist view of the facts of existence: "Both life and art are beautiful not because they are perfect and eternal, but because they are imperfect and fleeting... Wabi originally described the loneliness of living in nature, far from society; sabi meant lean or withered, a flower past its bloom. But during the 14th century, the two words began to take on more positive meanings, with wabi describing the more positive aspects of living alone in nature: a quiet, rustic simplicity. Sabi, on the other hand, began to find beauty in old age, in a weathered character, focusing instead on the serenity that can come with time, when inevitable wear becomes a patina, and scars become signs of experience." [2]
A combination of two old words, wabi-sabi expresses this Buddhist view of the facts of existence: "Both life and art are beautiful not because they are perfect and eternal, but because they are imperfect and fleeting... Wabi originally described the loneliness of living in nature, far from society; sabi meant lean or withered, a flower past its bloom. But during the 14th century, the two words began to take on more positive meanings, with wabi describing the more positive aspects of living alone in nature: a quiet, rustic simplicity. Sabi, on the other hand, began to find beauty in old age, in a weathered character, focusing instead on the serenity that can come with time, when inevitable wear becomes a patina, and scars become signs of experience." [2]
Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, asperity (roughness or irregularity), simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes. [3]
Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, asperity (roughness or irregularity), simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes. [3]
Below are two examples: a Japanese tea house which reflects the wabi-sabi aesthetic in Kenroku-en and Wabi-sabi tea bowl, Azuchi–Momoyama period, 16th century. (Wikimedia commons)
Below are two examples: a Japanese tea house which reflects the wabi-sabi aesthetic in Kenroku-en and Wabi-sabi tea bowl, Azuchi–Momoyama period, 16th century. (Wikimedia commons)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi
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