“A-WA-RE”
The Link between Beauty and Sadness
by Tamaki Obuchi
I would like to talk about a traditional aesthetic which is very distinctive to the Japanese way of thinking. My photography is influenced by this aesthetic. We Japanese have a word, “a-wa-re.” If you have a chance to read Japanese classical literature–for example, Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji*), you’ll find the feeling of “a-wa-re” over and over again in the story. The Tale of Genji was written in the beginning of the 11th century, the Heian period, by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady in the Heian court of Japan. We say The Tale of Genji is a masterpiece which has the feeling of “a-wa-re.” Lady Murasaki used the word “a-wa-re” in various circumstances in her story. Presently in Japan, the general meaning of “a-wa-re” is “pity” or “compassion,” but in ancient Japan, the term designated not only those meanings, but also feelings which could be called “pathos,” a very Japanese response to the transience of earthly existence.