Wabi Sabi. Andrew Juniper

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ of the vase, reflect life’s beauty and evanescence. Raku-style pottery was incorporated into the tea ceremony as a reaction to the ornate Chinese utensils adopted by the nobility and emphasized the beauty of rustic imperfection over attempts at perfection. It was during this period that, under the guidance of the tea masters, Japan’s artistry moved into a new era with the appreciation of things wabi sabi reaching its zenith.

      In this period there was also a more cynical force behind the promotion of wabi sabi art. The wealth that Kyoto had enjoyed as the capital of Japan was greatly diminished by the movement of the capital to Kamakura, which is just outside the modern Tokyo. Iemoto was the term used for the founders or inheritors of teachings, secrets, and prized scrolls relating to the arts such as music, dance, No theater, and the tea ceremony, and it was through this medium that teachings were passed down through the generations. This status then gives the iemoto the right to final arbitration on any points of practice or technique, and as such it was also a valuable source of revenue—not entirely dissimilar from modern-day patents. The sometimes jealous harboring of these treasures and the status they brought has had a great deal of influence on the way arts have developed in Japan. On the one hand, it has maintained a degree of continuity from the original teachings and in some cases preserved the original orthodox practices; on the other hand, it has sometimes become tainted by political and financial considerations, and then strays far from the original spirit intended by the founder. The strict adherence to the ideas given by Sen no Rikyu (see later discussion of the tea ceremony) has led to some aspects of the tea ceremony becoming devoid of any real spiritual union—the fundamental reason for its creation.

      It has also been suggested that some of the mystery and intrigue surrounding the ethereal properties of wabi sabi art was intentionally promoted by the iemoto families, whose incomes had been severely diminished by the emergence of Kamakura. Without the funds for the more ornate and gorgeous artifacts, the iemoto families turned their attention to the readily available wabi sabi–style art, and then enhanced its value by shrouding it in mystery. So, the activities of the iemoto families played a considerable role in the promotion of wabi sabi as an art for the refined. And wabi sabi became an art form that offered far greater potential for those willing to uncover beauty in what may have been considered at first glance to be unrefined and ugly.

      From this golden era of art the wheels were now set in motion for the transference of ideals of beauty to all aspects of Japanese life. The core philosophy that beauty was to be found in detail was now incorporated into the Japanese mind, where it remained relatively unchallenged until Japan again opened her borders to the West.

      The Japanese, consummate artists of observation, were very quick to learn from the West, and within a few decades Japan established herself as a force to be reckoned with. As she assimilated knowledge of the West, Japan was able to pass new ideas through the filter of its own culture and then take the best that each had to offer. This trend has continued down through the ages, and one of Japan’s greatest abilities today is to take a foreign idea, refine it, and then sell it back to the West.

      The changes that the West brought to Japan were explosive and altered modes of dress and activities almost beyond recognition. In her desire to catch up with and participate more fully in the hedonism of the West, Japan was prepared to sacrifice much of its culture.

      There was even, at one point, a narrowly defeated vote on whether the Japanese should keep their own language or switch to English. Fortunately, the language was kept, and it has continued to function as a link between the past and the present. Without it, much of Japan’s culture would surely have been lost. With the help of the language and a great personal pride in their cultural heritage, the people of Japan have managed to retain a small nugget of Japanese-ness knitted into the fabric of their words and deeds. They may have been greatly affected by the West, yet they are still first and foremost Japanese, and this can be seen in the different way they still approach work and design.

      The Japanese attention to detail and their desire to keep all aspects of design as simple and well balanced as possible are evident even in today’s modern designs. The cultural norms that have bound the Japanese through their remarkable history remain entrenched in the national psyche and the way they see themselves, and the objects they design and make are still strongly influenced by their Zen roots.

      There is an expression in Japanese that says that someone who makes things of poor quality is in fact worse than a thief, because he doesn’t make things that will last or provide true satisfaction. A thief at least redistributes the wealth of a society.

      The link between modern-day designs and the ancient designs of wabi sabi may seem a little tenuous, but there exists, in the spirit with which both are approached and the reverence given for the process of creativity, a little changed perception of values.

      And it is these values, which have given Japan an incredible foundation for her interaction with the modern world, that find their roots in the ideals of Zen and wabi sabi.

      WABI SABI IN THE ART OF ZEN

      AS ZEN HAS BEEN the guiding light for Japanese thought and philosophy for over one thousand years, it has also provided the moral and aesthetic underpinnings for all Japanese arts as they have evolved over the centuries. Through its influence on the nobility and the leading artistic figures through the centuries, it has become ingrained in the Japanese aesthetic sensibility. Therefore, a detailed look at Zen and its development in Japan may throw some further illumination on the aesthetic ideology of wabi sabi.

      A BRIEF HISTORY OF ZEN

      Buddhism was founded in northeastern India and was based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who is now known as the Buddha, or the Enlightened One.

      Born into a life of luxury around 563 B.C. he was so struck by the suffering of those living outside the palace that he was spurred to renounce the material world and to seek answers to the mysteries of life. After passing through a stage of extreme asceticism, the Buddha took the middle path, which avoided the pitfalls of both overindulgence and self-denial, and after a great struggle he is said to have attained enlightenment under a bodhi tree.

      Realizing the nature of reality, he started to preach and formed an ideology based on the Four Noble truths,

       The Four Noble Truths

      1. Life is suffering.

      2. All suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of reality and the resultant craving, attachment, and grasping that stem from such ignorance.

      3. Suffering can be stopped by overcoming ignorance and one’s attachment to the material world.

      4. The path that leads away from suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right-mindedness, and right contemplation.

      These ideas were passed down from one disciple to another through the ages, but Zen Buddhism was to receive its inspiration from China, where the Buddhist ideas were to undergo radical changes as they passed through a culture that already had strong religious and cultural ideas of its own.

      The Taoist movement in China fused with the new ideas coming from India to form the Ch’an school of Buddhism, and this later became known as Zen in Japan. The essential Taoist philosophical and СКАЧАТЬ