Wabi Sabi

Wabi Sabi is a deep and profoundly rooted notion in the Japanese spirit.  Something between an artistic concept, a philosophy of life and a personal feeling.  It is imperceptible but everywhere in Japanese culture; as subtle as the appreciation of a crack on a teapot, the wood of an old door, green moss on a rock or the reflection of the moon in a lake. And characteristics of the aesthetic, including asymmetry, economy, austerity, intimacy, and appreciation of the integrity of natural objects and processes are applied in classical Japanese aesthetics like flower arranging, poetry, the tea ceremony, and Zen gardens.

An explanation of wabi sabi is as elusive as the concept is ethereal.  The aesthetic is the acceptance of transience and imperfection.  It is the contemplation and appreciation of a deep and tranquil beauty that emerges with the passage of time. It is the beauty of imperfect things--the idea that the imperfect embodies perfection.  Author Andrew Juniper defines wabi sabi as "An intuitive appreciation of ephemeral beauty in the physical world that reflects the irreversible flow of life in the spiritual world.”   And in a more practical sense, "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."  

Transience

According to the legend, the young Rikyu, eager to learn the codes of the ancestral ritual of tea ceremony, went to find a recognized tea master named Takeeno Joo. The latter wanted to test the abilities of his new apprentice and asked him to take care of the garden. Rikyu cleaned it from top to bottom and raked it until it was perfect. However, before presenting his work to his master, he shook a cherry tree and sakura flowers fell on the ground. This touch of imperfection brought beauty to the scene and that is how the concept of wabi sabi was born.

Imperfection

To our Western sensibilities the concept of wabi sabi may seem vague and hard to wrap our heads around.  To relate it to our daily life, wabi sabi nurtures simplicity and authenticity in everything, and acknowledges three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.  It embraces the cycle of life and growth and death and decay.  That fading should be treasured for being the natural way of things and that things become more beautiful as they age (patina, wrinkles, weathering) and consequently acquire a new charm to the beholder. It appreciates beauty in imperfect things and in not seeking perfection.  If we accept these principles, perhaps we can peacefully live our perfectly imperfect lives.