EAST ASIAN STUDIES

 

JAPANESE AESTHETICS

        The concepts that encapsulate the understanding of Japanese aesthetics exist within the canon of western ideals of beauty, sublimity, and disinterest. However, the idea of balance within the artistic sentiment holds provocative philosophical premises and implications. One of the most distinctive aspects of Japanese aesthetics is its insistence on overcoming dichotomies, especially between cognition and emotion, body and mind, self and other, and individual and group. Thus, the resolution of conflict and dichotomy yields to an understanding of balance and peace. This idealism is showcased throughout many practices, including calligraphy, which is said to bridge the mind and soul, and architecture and gardening, which wrestles with the concept of the interior as opposite nature. This concept of resolving conflict is also relevant in ethical and political analysis. Yet, other features of Japanese aesthetics are equally deserving of philosophical scrutiny: the ways in which arts and aesthetics are integrated with daily life, the emphasis on process rather than product, the differing views on originality and obsolescence, and the relation of the artistic process to the self. The aesthetics of Japan developed in a unique fashion, partly due to its natural geographic isolation. This island isolation by the sea not only helped to protect Japan from foreign invasion and allowed for controlled contact with other nations, but also facilitated the evolution of unique art forms and aesthetic ideas. Yet, even in relative isolation, outside influences shaped the course of artistry and aesthetics. Traditional Japanese art and aesthetics were most affected by the Chinese and by Buddhism, but influences from the West are also evident. For example, prior to western emergence, Japan did not separate fine arts from manual crafts. Indeed, the Japanese word that best approximates the meaning of "art" is not singular, referring only to selected styles, but "katachi" which translates to "form and design." This implies that art is synonymous with living, functional purpose, and spiritual simplicity. Thus, the primary aesthetic concept at the heart of traditional Japanese culture is the value of harmony. This Japanese aesthetic of the beauty of simplicity and harmony is called wabi-sabi. Essentially, Wabi-sabi is analogous to the classic Greek ideal of beauty and perfection in the west; it defines grace and balance. Wabi Sabi is intended to invoke a sense of serene melancholy and spiritual longing while acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect. While the words Wabi Sabi are not easily translated, they can be understood as "understated elegance" or "uniqueness" and "the serenity of age". However, truly the Wabi Sabi ethos embodies a state of imperfection, a state of balance between the perfect and the disarray to achieve a greater calm. Although Wabi Sabi is syncretic in nature, , the ethos embodies an almost Buddhist view of the universe, representing liberation from a material world and transcendence to a simpler life. While wabi sabi promotes the asymmetrical and the irregular, it upholds that this imperfection is the true balance of the natural world; that is, the natural world does not adhere to manmade perceptions of beauty, but follows its own set of guidelines to create balance.