‘To know mono no aware is to discern the power and essence, not just of the moon and the cherry blossoms, but of every single thing existing in this world, and to be stirred by each of them’. Motoori Norinaga, scholarJapan’s Edo Period
Said to be the essence of Japanese culture, mono no aware (a-wha-rey) describes the transient, beautiful, pathos of things; their fleetingness, their impermanence. It evokes a bittersweet sadness of the reality of life. There is a tradition in Japan of communicating the wisdom of Buddhism through aesthetics, or the study of beauty. Recognition of the impermanence of life is a central belief of Buddhism. Buddhism holds that life is marked by three key qualities: impermanence, insubstantiality and suffering - the laksanas. We suffer because we try to hold onto the impermanent and insubstantial aspects of life.
Mono no aware suggests that impermanence should not just be accepted, but appreciated. We have the chance to witness the ephemeral beauty of life. We are sigh knowing deeply this beauty, this moment will pass. It is the bitter sweet acknowledgement of how life flows.
This aesthetic and understanding flows through all Japanese culture: literature, art, film, and tradition.
holding back the night
with its increasing brilliance
the summer moon
– Yoshitoshi’s death poem
Mono no aware is one of the most well-known concepts in traditional literature in Japan. The Japanese eighteenth century Tale of Genji is said to have initiated this concept. In this fictionalized depiction of Heian court society, women were central figures, and the tale goes to great lengths to analyse their feelings and dissect their psychological states. The most influential literary analysis of the tale is the one made by Motoori Norinaga in the 18thcentury (quoted above). Norinaga argued that mono no aware is the main filter through which the Genji should be read and appreciated. It expresses the ability to be moved by nature and all the things that surround us. Through this deeper understanding of the law of life, we can experience deep aesthetic appreciation.
A more modern take is Ken Lieu’s award winning science fiction short story of the same name - Mono No Aware. In the story what’s left of humanity – slightly more than a thousand individuals – is traveling on a solar-sail-powered ship toward a new home. The main character switches between memories of his childhood and his present predicament. Survival depends on the ability to rise above one’s personal needs, to care about “the web of relationships in which we’re enmeshed”. It illustrates how things in life are temporary, that everything passes: what matters is not so much an individual’s life, but rather “the places we hold in the web of others’ lives.” (Perhaps the feeling you get from reading that line is mono no aware). You can read this tender science fiction story in his compilation The Paper Menagarie or listen to it being read.
British-Japanese novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, author of best-sellers “Never Let Me Go” and “The Remains of the Day”, is also known for contrasting past and present events in a way that is reflective of mono no aware.
The idea of mono no aware expanded from literary criticism to become more broadly used across Japan and eventually became part of Japanese cultural understanding as a whole. The emphemeral beauty and celebration of cherry blossoms season is one such example. Living gloriously, for only a week, the cherry blossom or sakura are the embodiment of mono no aware. In ancient Japan, warriors were compared to sakura blossoms – born to live brilliantly and die young. And so when the petals fall, a gentle bittersweet sadness can be felt all throughout Japan.
The aesthetic of mono no aware has also suffused into Japanese anime and manga- as you can see from the short film above. Or take the classic Studio Ghibli film Only Yesterday (also entitled Memories Come Tumbling Down) where Taeko, who has lived her whole life in Tokyo, decides to take a trip to visit family and help with the safflower harvest. On the journey she reflects on her childhood. In scenes that switch between the present and the past, Taeko wonders if she has been true to the dreams of her childhood self.
Or the film The Garden of Words where the fleetingness of childhood and youth, the fading of romance, and the changing of seasons are not to be mourned, but cherished and appreciated in their impermanence, for that is where their beauty lies.
We can all have this sense of the transient beauty of life passing. Last night the heat of summer was dissipated by the evening rain. Another summer’s day passed. This week my younger daughter finished primary school. No more school runs, school plays or sports days. The pull on the heart these moments bring are familiar to all of us. We so want to cling on to these moments, yet know we cannot. We must love them and let them go. The present so quickly fades into the past and we are left with another fissure in our hearts. This is a call to action for heartfelt appreciation of our present moment experience, for it is only in the present we can truly dwell.