Wabi Sabi: Historical Moments of the Aesthetic Other

wabi-sabi historic moments of the a e s t h e i c o t h e r

䞘 寂

2 0 1 6

D e c e m b e r

This book is read from left to right.

The next page on the left is page 1.

imperfect

impermanent

incomplete

Introduction

Wabi-sabi

is a Japanese aesthetics referring to

the beauty of imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.

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“It provides an integrated appr

knowledge (spirituality), emoti

feel of things (materiality).”

— Leonard Koren, Wabi-sabi: fo As Andrew Juniper suggested in his book Wabi Sabi: the Japanese art of impermanence, “if an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi”, the sensibility wabi-sabi embeds is what we could understand most easily.

When it comes to the exact meaning of the word wabi-sabi, there’s neither a perfect translation in English nor a concrete meaning in Japanese context. The obfuscation has religious, social and its rhetorical reasons. Its philosophy rooted in zen buddhism has made wabi-sabi a typical successor of zen’s mind-to-mind transmission of meanings instead of word-toword. The mythical and “exotic” meaning of wabi-sabi is also viewed a business secret especially for those 18th century family business making money out of the art of tea ceremony. Besides, the very obscurity of wabi-sabi serves its own philosophy as a form of “incompleteness”. 6

“if an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of sere

melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to b wabi-sabi.”

— Andrew Juniper, Wabi-sabi: the Japanese art of impermanence

roach to the ultimate nature of existence (metaphysics), sacred

ional well-being(state of mind), behavior (morality), and the look and

or artists, designers, poets & philosophers

According to Leonard Koren, “the most conspicuous and characteristic feature of traditional Japanese beauty and it occupies roughly the same position in the Japanese pantheon of aesthetic values as do the Greek ideals of beauty and perfection in the West.� 6 It celebrates not the perfect and flawlessness but rather the marks of age and individuality that derives from a respect for what is passing, fragile, slightly broken and modest.10

ene

be 5

寂 sabi alone beginning from 14th century. Sabi originally means chill, lean, or withered, and became to be a appreciation of the beauty in marks of aging and wear on objects. 10

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In order to demystify the term, many has traced back to the origin and the evolving meaning in the history of wabi and sabi, which I will further discuss in this paper.

䞘 wabi Wabi-sabi consists of two parts: wabi and sabi. Evolving from a negative connotation to a more positive one, wabi, originally meaning loneliness and misery, means the bittersweet melancholy for one to be

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Koren has compared wabi and sabi in his book this way: Wabi refers to a way of life, a spiritual path, the inward and the subjective, a philosophical construct, spacial events.

While sabi refers to the material objects, art and literature, the outward, the objective, an aesthetic ideal, temporal events.

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With the time passing, the meanings had metamorphosed from the original, and in present-day, we often refer them as one word: wabi-sabi.

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Taoism

Zen

Tea Ceremony

wabi-tea

wabi-sabi

Origin

Originated in the Daoism in China 5th century BCE, the zen philosophy is gradually formed through the fusion of Daoism and Buddhism. Then starting from the Chinese art movement in Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), the eastern aesthetics gradually

of tea, the communication

swayed away from the

and everything around fallen

academic styles to a more

in a wabi-sabi style. Wabi-

spontaneous style. Then

sabi was then a reaction

with zen monks traveling

to the ornate high-culture

back to Japan from China

adopted by the upper class,

throughout the 14th century,

and emphasizes the beauty

the philosophy of zen, a

of rustic imperfection rather

philosophy ideal derives from

than perfection. In 16th

Daoism, influenced many

century, the turmoil of Japan’s

aspects of Japanese art,

medieval civil war offered an

including the tea ceremony.

opportunity for a generation of

From the tea ceremony, the

literati pursuing their artistic

design of architecture (tea

ambitions with more freedom

house), utensils (teal bowls,

than any other times. Wabi-

tea spoons, etc.), the ritual

sabi took center stage in the 1600s’ Japan. Right after its founder Sen no Rikyu’s death, many interpretations towards wabi-sabi were superficial and went far away from the core spirit of wabi-sabi.

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Historic Overview

Wabi-sabi is a quintessential Japanese aesthetic born out of the Zen Buddhist. It is considered the most important Japanese aesthetic, as a distinctive cultural individuality that eventually established the Japanese identity, to be distinctive from China specifically.

Daoism

Daoism, as the predecessor of Zen, is thought to be the very first link to wabi-sabi’s aesthetics.

Found by Lao-zi in Chinese Zhou Dynasty , specifically the Warring States period right before the Qin dynasty unified China. Dao De Jing, as an important book talking about the “Dao” (the way), giving a general vague instructions about the way of living a good life.“Dao” is known as the way to be a good person, to virtue, goodness, and harmony etc. Daoism believes “Dao” exists in the progresses of things in nature, one shouldn’t force anything to happen, because “try to change it and you will ruin it, try to hold it and you will lose

“nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

— Laozi, Dao De Jing

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it” and “nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished”.

Daoism embraces nature and

A Religious Start Daoism - Zen - Tea Ceremony China - Japan

Buddha Daibutsu, Kamakura, Japan.

Zen

After the Buddhism was brought in China by Bodhidharma in 527, the original Indian Buddhism has been transferred into its way to a Chinese Buddhism. It is not until Tang Dynasty when the Chinese Buddhism became a major influence in Chinese culture, when Taoism was the official religion at that time. Buddhism was later being

Due to the cultural and

persecuted by the government1, and

social prosperity when Tang

before that, Buddhism and Daoism

dynasty, there were many

were accpeted side by side. Chan,

cultural communication

the Chinese way to call zen, is born

between China and countries

out of the fusion of Daoism and

around. Many Chinese chan

Buddhism. The principal teachings

Buddhism monks came

of Chan was a separate transmission

to Japan to help further

outside the scriptural teachings that

the spread of Buddhism,

did not posit any written texts as

but it was not until 1191, a

sacred. Chan pointed directly to the

Japanese monk named Eisai

human mind to enable people to see

came back to Kyoto from

their real nature.

the pilgrimages and temples in China that brought a movement in Japan that chanllenged the native

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religion in Japan, Shinto.

“The best people are like water, which benefits all things and does not compete with them. It stays in lowly places that others reject. This is why it is so similar to Dao.” — Laozi, Dao De Jing

freedom, and believes in everything happens in its natural course.

Water is frequently mentioned as a subject with Dao. Daoism believes in Wu Wei, which means effortless action by accepting nature and living in harmony with everything around you like water flowing.

Laozi advocates that people should let go of what’s outside for a while and focus on the experience of the world. In order to accept more experiences, people should be like a “empty pot”, empty everything else and then focus on what’s happening at the moment and emphasize on finding the true self.

It is three main thoughts among China at that time, and was believed by emperors of different countries in China as a political tools at

that time. While Daoism find sweetness among the disorder in the world and see the harmony underlying guided by Dao (the way), Confucianism focus on the order itself, and Buddhism see the suffering of the world.2 The three branched of thoughts in China also intertwined with each other in many ways. In this case, Ch’an, the Chinese way to call zen, is born out of the fusion of Daoism and Buddhism.

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in his book Wabi Sabi the Japanese art of impermanence mentioned the first movement of the appreciation of physical objects that is humble and rustic, starts when the under-funded temple had to entertain guests. The condition pushed the monks to look for natural materials and produce aesthetically pleasing effect. Bamboo and wildflowers, instead of ornate Chinese porcelain, are used and later formed the inclination in rustic beauty, and eventually absorbed into the Japanese way of life. Wabi-sabi is a distillation of this kind of efforts, and offers a different perspective towards beauty.

1191

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Eisai was now known as the zen master and founded the Hōon Temple in remote Kyūshū, Japan’s first Zen temple soon after his return. This new ideology is not well-received by the established monks. One of his disciples Dogen traveled to China and returned to found the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan in 1227. Dogen’s return finally brought a change among the established monks with his umcompromising approach to the Although Zen is mentioned as

teaching of Zen.

the Zen Buddhism, the influence from Daoism was profound and far-reaching. Daoism and Zen are closer in nature, and both pursuit a return to a natural state by transcending the mundane life.

Zen is commonly known as this peculiarly Chinese way to achieve Buddhist goal of breaking down all leaned ideas of the world so as to see the world as it is. One needs to be freed from attachments or judgements to be able to reach the goal with tremendous mental effort. It believes this goal, the awareness does not come from years of training, but a flash of light.

Therefore the philosophy is pursued not by words and meanings, but by inward exploration. The teaching is to-word.2

Eisai

from mind-to-mind instead of wordZen temples in Japan began to lead the way for the Japan’s art. Juniper

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disease if not boiled. Tea is also valued for its

that may be contaminated, producing intestinal

in part because a hot drink is far safer than water

Tea drinking gains popularity among the Chinese,

708

from the emperor, then, returns to Japan with tea.

years visiting Chinese Buddhist temples on orders

Buddhist bonze (priest) Saicho, spends three

Tea is introduced to Japan as a medicine. The

805

room, and Rikyu has made it small4 and modest when asked to built one by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a most powerful warlord during the Sengoku period* that later unified Japan. Toyotomi

Zen Buddhism is introduced into Japan.

1191

suicide (seppuku) on orders from Toyotomi

Japanese tea master Rikyu commits ritual

1591

Tea is referred to as chaa.

a translation of a Dutch navigator’s travels.

The first English mention of tea appears in

1597

ceremony.

Hideyoshi.Rikyu has formalized the tea

Hideyoshi took a great interest in the arts to legitimize his leadership due to his peasant background. Hideyoshi met Rikyu in 1570. Before that, he owed the Golden Tearoom for the aristocratic tea ceremony and Rikyu

helped him built the Taian tea house for wabi-tea. Hideyoshi felt greatly insulted that a rather modest tea room is built for him, and gave Rikyu a suicide

1657

Public sale of tea begins in London.

command in 1591. The era of true spiritual tea ceremony is ended with the death of the tea master Rikyu.

a similar period like the Chinese Warring States period, only a thousand years later. *

Taian Tea Room

alleged medicinal values.

The locus of tea ceremony is the tea

Tea Ceremony In 14th century, the profusion of arts was much influenced by Murata Juko

the zen masters.2 Among the art, tea ceremony, first brought back

by Eisai in 1191 from China, has soon became a cornerstone of high culture. The formalization of tea ceremony has emerged and was promoted side by side with the teachings of zen. It was seen as a amusing activity of upper class and warriors in Japan, and it was not yet a serious artistic activity until 1488 Murato Shuko (1423-1502) wrote the Letter of the Heart that established the Sen no Rikyu

embryonic principles of wabitea, which is the tea ceremony.

As the western philosopher practice philosophy through conversations and develop it by writings and lectures, the eastern philosophers devoted themselves in a more performance way to practice their thinking, such as tea ceremony.10 As the student of Shuko, Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591) is known as the person who reform the tea ceremony into a more philosophical way, during a gradually superficial and money-driven ear of Japan.

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Still, from these effort to passing down this tea culture, had developed the Raku ware, which is a type of Japanese pottery used in Japanese tea ceremonies, often hand-shaped, porous and imperfect on the surface. Until today, Raku techniques have been modified by contemporary potters worldwide, and has been a major style of pottery suggesting a wabi-sabi aesthetics.

Kintsugi* is also what’s derived from the philosophy of wabi-sabi.

Kintsugi means “to join with gold�.

It is a Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e technique. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.

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*

Kin = golden, tsugi = joinery.

Tea room is symbolic in a way to keep the guests and the master detached from the outside world.

It meant to be isolated from the conventional society. The utensils used in tea ceremony is intentionally using rough rice bowls to replace ornate Chinese tea bowls. The material is often taken from nearby.

Since the tea room is often built in the rural area hiding among the mountains, the spoons and chasens were often made from bamboo.

This became a wabi-sabi style of serving tea, and was imitated after the death of Rikyu. The Japanese tea ceremony from there became more of a ritual than a spiritual practice.

The emphasis was put on the right way to serving tea, instead of the sensibilities during the tea ceremony or knowledge of the teamasters.

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Muji

Kenya Hara

Alex Vervoordt

Present-day

Besides, designers worldwide has been pursue this aesthetics as well. Alex Vervoordt, for example, a Belgian antique and art dealer, whose has found his own family business in the area of art, antique and interior design, has been intrigued by the philosophy of wabi-sabi. According to Vervoordt, his design focus on the balance and timeless in authentic objects, and arranged by spontaneity.

There’re many examples of wabi-sabi style of things, but the ones that understands its philosophy behind is what truly stands out. The universal spirit of wabi-sabi lives not only on simple designs such as the first SONY Walkman, the Ando architecture and the Alex interior design, or the Raku-style pottery, but also in the way of living a fulfilled life. Wabi-sabi as an ancient aesthetics coming from the East still evokes many common human feelings among us, and provides a alternative way to look at the beauty in life.

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It is, as Juniper said, a little tenuous to link the modern-day designs and the ancient design of wabi-sabi, yet the attention to detail and the desire to be simple and balanced is in relation to Works of Japanese contemporary designers such as Kenya Hara,

the Japanese national psyche that is greatly influenced by wabi-sabi.2

would be a typical example of such simplicity. Works of Japanese contemporary designers such as Kenya Hara, would be a typical example of such simplicity.

In his books, he often refers back to the art of tea ceremony, the origin of the tradition Japanese aesthetics, which look beauty in simplicity. The Japanese brand Muji MUJI, originally founded in Japan in 1980, sells variety of household goods, apparel and food. Its name Mujirushi Ryohin translates as “no-brand quality goods� embraces the simplicity in everyday life by getting rid of the sense of brand to be able to deal with different occasions. Modern design in Japan still values the philosophical ideas, and has applied them to their process. The future of Japanese design has been closely linked to the people and the society.

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imperfect

impermanent

incomplete

Conclusion

It seems ironic that a rich culture often happens in tahe times of turmoil, and depressed by the unification or peace in a short while. Context and the subjects living within fluxed together like a sine wave. The study of wabi-sabi, the origin, the evolution of its meaning, and the distribution of its carriers, shows me a poetic life of a evolving ideology. Things evolved, like Laozi would said, at its own course.

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Wabi-sabi, one of the most mysterious eastern aesthetic terms has intrigued many people to explore its roots and meaning. The reason perhaps lies obvious in modern days. The age of overload information and advanced technology has brought us back to the reminisce of finding one’s true self. There’re programs for people to stay away from digital devices and being in a temple for a month. People are practicing their concentration in the midst of constant temptations. Wabi-sabi, an old aesthetics has been a refreshment in our daily life. The aesthetic other is one of the path that can leads us back to when things are simple, close to humanity, and seek for the infinite during our limited time.

Many designers and artists are aware of the problems and challenges we faced, it’s rewarding to trace back an old philosophy like wabi-sabi, and come back with a fresh eye towards the current, for the history is evolving with a pattern.

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Bibliography 1. Basic Buddhism: exploring Buddhism and Zen, Nan Huai-

Chin, 1997, Samuel Weiser, page 92.

2. Juniper, Andrew. 2003. Wabi sabi: the Japanese art of

impermanence. Boston: Tuttle Pub. 3. Kennedy, Ann. “June 9 - 10, 1954 Iwashimizu Shrine,

Taian Tea House and Myokian Temple”, posted March 28, 2013, http://annbkennedy.blogspot.my/2013/03/june-9-101954-iwashimizu-shrine-taian.html 4. Kenya, Hara. 2014. White: Baden (Schweiz).

5. Kenya, Hara. 2015. Designing Design. Lars Muller.

6. Koren, Leonard. 1994. Wabi-sabi for artists,

designers, poets & philosophers. Berkeley, Calif: Stone Bridge Press.

7. Koren, Leonard. 2015. Wabi-sabi: Further Thoughts.

Point Reyes, California: Imperfect Publishing.

8. The Book of Life, “Chapter 6: Curriculum: Eastern

Philosophy: Sen no Rikyū”, 2014, http://www. thebookoflife.org/the-great-eastern-philosophers-sen-norikyu/.

9. The School of Life, “EASTERN PHILOSOPHY - Lao Tzu”, Youtube video, 05:29, published November 21, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFb7Hxva5rg.

10. The School of Life, “HISTORY OF IDEAS - Wabi-

sabi”, Youtube video, 08:42, published December 5, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmHLYhxYVjA.

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Page 9-10 An online picture of wabi-sabi tea house. Accesed in 2016.

Page 11-13 The Picture of Water, painted by Ma Yuan, a Chinese painter of the Song Dynasty.

Now a collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, China.

Page 15 Six Persimmons, a Taoist-influenced 13th-century Chinese painting by the monk, Mu Qi.

Page 16 Laozi Riding and Ox, hanging scroll, light color on paper, 101.5 x 55.3 cm.

Located at the National Palace Museum. Laozi is carrying a copy of the Dao De Jing.

Page 17 A painting describing the story of Confucius, Laozi and Buddha tasting vinegar: http://webarchives.tnm.jp/imgsearch/show/C0023381. Now a collection of the Tokyo National Museum. In the story, Confucius found the vinegar sour, Buddha found it bitter while Laozi found it sweet.

Page 18 A screenshot of an ancient Japanese map in the video created by the story of the life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmHLYhxYVjA&t=155s. 2015.

Page 22 Saan teahouse at Gyokurin-in, Kyoto’s Daitoku-ji (temple). From the MUJI advertisement, 2005, “Tea House” poster.

Page 23 An online picture of The Golden Tearoom built in 1585 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi: http://onlynativejapan.com/2015/07/29/%E3%80%90culture%E3%80%91the-golden-tearoom-was-portable-to-practice-gorgeous-tea-ceremonies-anywhere/5540.

Page 24 An online picture of the Taian teahouse designed by Rikyu, built between 1582 and 1583: http://andokobo.blog73.fc2.com/blog-entry-588.html.

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Picture Captions * *

Unless specially noted, photographies are shot by the author.

Pictures that are already captioned in the pages are not listed.

Inside cover Tree silhouette in Huan Hua Xi Park (Chengdu, China). 2015.

Page 1-2 The surface of a tree in Dao Cheng, China. 2015.

Page 3 An online picture of a decomposed leaves: https://www.pinterest.com/ pin/311522499210001419/. Accesed on 2016.

Page 5 (from up to bottom) Picture of Perissa beach in Santorini, Greece. 2014.

Picture of an exhibition abut dry things (“干物展”) in Fan Ji store (a furniture store selling designer’s wooden furnitures mainly imported from Japan), Beijing, China. 2015.

Picture of the moon in Chengdu (my hometown), China. 2015.

Page 6 An online picture of a decomposed leaves: https://www.pinterest.com/ pin/311522499210001450/. Accesed in 2016.

Page 7 Picture of the exterior of Gaiyoen Hotel, from page 311, Designing Design.

Page 8 An online picture of goad leaf on concrete floor: https://www.pinterest.com/ pin/311522499210001499/. Accesed in 2016.

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2721 words Dong Yangyifan Dec,18,2016

Page 25 (from top to bottom, from left to right) Wabi-sabi tea bowl, Azuchi–Momoyama period, 16th century.

Donjinsai study at Kyoto’s temple and the Ginsadan garden in front of the main hall. Taken from MUJI advertisement, 2005, “Tea House” poster.

Bamboo tea scoop “Yugami (Warp)”, by Sen no Rikyu (1522 - 1591), Momoyama period.

Page 26 A scan of the picture page at the end of the book: White, by Kenya Hara.

Page 27-28 An online picture of the interior design of Alex Vervoordt. Accessed in 2016.

Page 29-30 Scan of works by Kenya Hara from Designing Design.

Page 31 MUJI advertisement, 2005, “Tea House“ poster.

The picture is the Kasumidokoseki teahouse at Gyokurin-in, Kyoto’s temple.

Page 32 Online pictures of the interior design of Alex Vervoordt. Accessed in 2016.

Page 33-34 An online archive photograph of Members of the Kwansei Gakuin Tea Club in 1954: http://annbkennedy.blogspot.my/2013/03/june-9-10-1954-iwashimizu-shrine-taian. html. Accessed in 2016.

Page 35-36 Online pictures of the interior design of Alex Vervoordt. Accessed in 2016.

Page 37 Picture of me reading the Chinses version of Wabi-sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers. 2015.

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