Wabi-sabi

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Japanese tea bowl ( 茶碗 , Chawan ): The asymmetrical structure and rough shape of the bowl are complemented by the slow discoloration of the glaze that comes with use.
Zen garden in Ryōan-ji , Kyōto

Wabi-Sabi ( Japanese 侘 寂 ) is a Japanese aesthetic concept (concept of the perception of beauty). Closely with the Zen - Buddhist connected, there is a correspondence to the first of the Buddhist four noble truths , Dukkha .

meaning

Originally, wabi meant feeling miserable, lonely and lost. This turned into the joy of the astringency of solitary silence. But it was only in connection with Sabi , being old, showing patina, having maturity, that the actually untranslatable conceptual unit arose, which forms the standard of Japanese art evaluation. The highest is not the obvious beauty, but the veiled, not the immediate shine of the sun, but the broken of the moon. The moss-covered rock, the grassy thatched roof , the gnarled pine, the slightly rusted tea kettle, that and the like are the symbols of this ideal of beauty. It is about the majesty that is hidden in the shell of the inconspicuous, the austere simplicity, which reveals all the charms of the beautiful to the understanding ( Wilhelm Gundert ).

In the woods over there,
deep under the weight of the snow, a plum branch bloomed
last night
.

In this famous verse, the disciple reads the Sabi and Wabi .

history

The term Wabi-Sabi was introduced in the 16th century by the Japanese tea master and Zen monk Sen no Rikyū . The corresponding way of thinking was already widespread throughout the entire Japanese Middle Ages (i.e. from around the 12th century). Even in Japanese antiquity (7th to 11th centuries) there are already some approaches in this direction, which, however, had to take a back seat to other ideals.

Wabi-Sabi in Japanese Art

Japanese tea ceremony

Many Japanese art movements in the past 1000 years have been influenced by Zen , especially the acceptance and contemplation of the imperfection, the constant flow and the impermanence of all things. Such arts can exemplify the aesthetics of Wabi-Sabi. These include, for example:

Quotes

According to Leonard Koren , wabi-sabi is the most striking and distinctive feature of traditional Japanese beauty. It “occupies roughly the same position in the pantheon of Japanese aesthetic values ​​as the ancient Greek ideals of beauty and perfection do in the West.” Andrew Juniper explains, “When an object or expression has a feeling of deep melancholy and within us a spiritual longing, then this object can be said to be wabi-sabi. " Richard R. Powell sums up Wabi-sabi as follows:" It nourishes everything that is authentic as it recognizes three simple truths: nothing remains, nothing is completed and nothing is perfect. "

“Limit everything to the bare essentials, but don't remove the poetry. Keep things clean and unencumbered, but don't let them become sterile. "

literature

  • Leonard Koren: Wabi-Sabi for artists, architects and designers. Japan's philosophy of humility . Wasmuth, Tübingen 2000, ISBN 3-80303-064-1 .
  • Hans Schwalbe: Japan . Prestel, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-7913-04860 .
  • Andrew Juniper: Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence . Tuttle Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-8048-3482-2 .
  • Richard R. Powell: Wabi Sabi Simple . Adams Media 2004, ISBN 1-59337-178-0 .
  • Natsuko Podzimek-Horinouchi, Jana Mänz, Dr. Susan Brooks-Dammann: Wabi-Sabi - The Beauty of Photography . Delighted Photo School eBook, Grimma 2013.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence