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Jump to navigationJump to searchGlossary of Japanese aesthetics (view source)
Revision as of 18:33, 5 October 2013
, 18:33, 5 October 2013Created page with " A number of terms appear time and again to describe certain elements or aspects of Japanese aesthetic creativity and appreciation. *''Aware'' (哀れ) - pathos, something wh..."
A number of terms appear time and again to describe certain elements or aspects of Japanese aesthetic creativity and appreciation.
*''Aware'' (哀れ) - pathos, something which is emotionally "moving." See also ''[[mono no aware]]''. Associated especially with the [[Tale of Genji]].
*''En'' (艶) - "charming," or visually beautiful. Associated especially with the [[Tale of Genji]].
*''Ga'' (雅) - see ''Miyabi'' below.
*''Miyabi'' (雅) - refinement, elegance, courtliness, sophistication. ''Miyabi'' could incorporate or refer to other aesthetics, including things which were ''aware'', ''en'', or ''okashi'', but ''miyabi'' includes an implication that the person appreciating these things in this way is educated, cultured, and possesses the refinement or sophistication to appreciate such things correctly, and to understand, or feel, the more profound symbolic resonances or emotional connotations of the thing being appreciated. In later periods, especially in the [[Edo period]], the character for ''miyabi'', read as ''ga'', came to be commonly used to refer to elegance and refinement in contrast to ''zoku'' (俗) - things vulgar or mundane.
*''Okashi'' (可笑し) - though related to the modern word ''okashii'', meaning "strange" or "weird," the classical term ''okashi'' referred to things which were cute, delightful, or amusing. The term is used extensively, in particular, by [[Sei Shonagon|Sei Shônagon]] in her ''[[Pillow Book]]'' (''Makura no sôshi''). The term is not used to describe sad, tragic, or moving things, except ironically, parodying the effort by the aesthetic of ''aware'' to find profundity and pathos in the simplest of things.
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==References==
*“The Vocabulary of Japanese Aesthetics I,” in William Theodore de Bary et al eds. ''Sources of Japanese Tradition'' 2nd ed. (New York: Columbia U. Press, 2001), pp. 197-204.
[[Category:Terminology]]
[[Category:Heian Period]]
[[Category:Edo Period]]
