Mono No Aware: The Essence of Japan

Mono no aware: the Japanese attractiveness aesthetic

Meaning in effect "a sensitivity to things," mono no aware is a belief describing the essence of Japanese culture, invented by the Japanese literary and linguistic master master Motoori Norinaga in the eighteenth century, and remains the central artistic imperative in Japan to this day. The phrase is derived from the word *aware*, which in Heian Japan meant sensitivity or sadness, and the word mono, meaning things, and describes attractiveness as an awareness of the transience of all things, and a gentle sadness at their passing. It can also be translated as the "ah-ness" of things, of life, and love.

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Mono no aware gave name to an aesthetic that already existed in Japanese art, music and poetry, the source of which can be traced directly to the introduction of Zen Buddhism in the twelfth century, a spiritual religious doctrine and practise which profoundly influenced all aspects of Japanese culture, but especially art and religion. The fleeting nature of attractiveness described by mono no aware derives from the three states of existence in Buddhist philosophy: unsatisfactoriness, impersonality, and most importantly in this context, impermanence.

According to mono no aware, a falling or wilting autumn flower is more gorgeous than one in full bloom; a fading sound more gorgeous than one clearly heard; the moon partially clouded more engaging than full. The sakura or cherry bloom tree is the epitome of this belief of beauty; the flowers of the most sublime variety, somei yoshino, nearly pure white tinged with a subtle pale pink, bloom and then fall within a particular week. The subject of a thousand poems and a national icon, the cherry bloom tree embodies attractiveness as a transient experience.

Mono no aware states that attractiveness is a subjective rather than objective experience, a state of being finally internal rather than external. Based largely upon classical Greek ideals, attractiveness in the West is sought in the greatest perfection of an external object: a sublime painting, excellent sculpture or intricate musical composition; a attractiveness that could be said to be only skin deep. The Japanese ideal sees attractiveness instead as an touch of the heart and soul, a feeling for and appreciation of objects or artwork--most commonly nature or the depiction of--in a pristine, untouched state.

An appreciation of attractiveness as a state which does not last and cannot be grasped is not the same as nihilism, and can good be understood in relation to Zen Buddhism's religious doctrine of earthly transcendence: a spiritual longing for that which is infinite and eternal--the source of all worldly beauty. As the monk Sotoba wrote in *Zenrin Kushū* (Poetry of the Zenrin Temple), Zen does not regard nothingness as a state of absence, but rather the affirmation of an unseen that exists behind empty space: "Everything exists in emptiness: flowers, the moon in the sky, gorgeous scenery."

With its roots in Zen Buddhism, *mono no aware* is bears some relation to the non-dualism of Indian philosophy, as related in the following story about Swami Vivekananda by Sri Chinmoy:

*"Beauty," says [Vivekananda], "is not external, but already in the mind." Here we are reminded of what his spiritual daughter Nivedita wrote about her Master. "It was dark when we approached Sicily, and against the sunset sky, Etna was in minute eruption. As we entered the straits of Messina, the moon rose, and I walked up and down the deck beside the Swami, while he dwelt on the fact that attractiveness is not external, but already in the mind. On one side frowned the dark crags of the Italian coast, on the other, the island was touched with silver light. 'Messina must thank me,' he said; 'it is I who give her all her beauty.'" Truly, in the absence of appreciation, attractiveness is not attractiveness at all. And attractiveness is worthy of its name only when it has been appreciated.*

The founder of *mono no aware*, Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801), was the pre-eminent master of the Kokugakushu movement, a nationalist movement which sought to remove all outside influences from Japanese culture. Kokugakushu was enormously influential in art, poetry, music and philosophy, and responsible for the revival while the Tokugawa period of the Shinto religion. Contradictorily, the affect of Buddhist ideas and practises upon art and even Shintoism itself was so great that, although Buddhism is technically an outside influence, it was by this point unable to be extricated.

Meaning in effect "a sensitivity to things," mono no aware is a belief describing the essence of Japanese culture, invented by the Japanese literary and linguistic master master Motoori Norinaga in the eighteenth century, and remains the central artistic imperative in Japan to this day. The phrase is derived from the word aware, which in Heian Japan meant sensitivity or sadness, and the word mono, meaning things, and describes attractiveness as an awareness of the transience of all things, and a gentle sadness at their passing. It can also be translated as the "ah-ness" of things, of life, and love.

Mono no aware gave name to an aesthetic that already existed in Japanese art, music and poetry, the source of which can be traced directly to the introduction of Zen Buddhism in the twelfth century, a spiritual religious doctrine and practise which profoundly influenced all aspects of Japanese culture, but especially art and religion. The fleeting nature of attractiveness described by mono no aware derives from the three states of existence in Buddhist philosophy: unsatisfactoriness, impersonality, and most importantly in this context, impermanence.

According to mono no aware, a falling or wilting autumn flower is more gorgeous than one in full bloom; a fading sound more gorgeous than one clearly heard; the moon partially clouded more engaging than full. The sakura or cherry bloom tree is the epitome of this belief of beauty; the flowers of the most sublime variety, somei yoshino, nearly pure white tinged with a subtle pale pink, bloom and then fall within a particular week. The subject of a thousand poems and a national icon, the cherry bloom tree embodies attractiveness as a transient experience.

Mono no aware states that attractiveness is a subjective rather than objective experience, a state of being finally internal rather than external. Based largely upon classical Greek ideals, attractiveness in the West is sought in the greatest perfection of an external object: a sublime painting, excellent sculpture or intricate musical composition; a attractiveness that could be said to be only skin deep. The Japanese ideal sees attractiveness instead as an touch of the heart and soul, a feeling for and appreciation of objects or artwork--most commonly nature or the depiction of--in a pristine, untouched state.

An appreciation of attractiveness as a state which does not last and cannot be grasped is not the same as nihilism, and can good be understood in relation to Zen Buddhism's religious doctrine of earthly transcendence: a spiritual longing for that which is infinite and eternal--the source of all worldly beauty. As the monk Sotoba wrote in Zenrin Kushū (Poetry of the Zenrin Temple), Zen does not regard nothingness as a state of absence, but rather the affirmation of an unseen that exists behind empty space: "Everything exists in emptiness: flowers, the moon in the sky, gorgeous scenery."

With its roots in Zen Buddhism, mono no aware is bears some relation to the non-dualism of Indian philosophy, as related in the following story about Swami Vivekananda by Sri Chinmoy:

"Beauty," says [Vivekananda], "is not external, but already in the mind." Here we are reminded of what his spiritual daughter Nivedita wrote about her Master. "It was dark when we approached Sicily, and against the sunset sky, Etna was in minute eruption. As we entered the straits of Messina, the moon rose, and I walked up and down the deck beside the Swami, while he dwelt on the fact that attractiveness is not external, but already in the mind. On one side frowned the dark crags of the Italian coast, on the other, the island was touched with silver light. 'Messina must thank me,' he said; 'it is I who give her all her beauty.'" Truly, in the absence of appreciation, attractiveness is not attractiveness at all. And attractiveness is worthy of its name only when it has been appreciated.

The founder of mono no aware, Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801), was the pre-eminent master of the Kokugakushu movement, a nationalist movement which sought to remove all outside influences from Japanese culture. Kokugakushu was enormously influential in art, poetry, music and philosophy, and responsible for the revival while the Tokugawa period of the Shinto religion. Contradictorily, the affect of Buddhist ideas and practises upon art and even Shintoism itself was so great that, although Buddhism is technically an outside influence, it was by this point unable to be extricated.

Mono No Aware: The Essence of Japan