Mono no aware

2025-09-16T20:12:29Z

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{{Short description|Japanese idiom}}
{{about|a [[Japanese language]] [[idiom]]|the American organization|Mono No Aware (organization)|the music compilation album|Mono No Aware (album){{!}}Mono No Aware (album)}}
{{italic title}}
[[File:Men Dancing To Samisen.jpg|thumb|Japanese woodblock print showcasing transience, precarious beauty, and the passage of time, thus "mirroring" {{transliteration|ja|mono no aware}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Men dancing to samisen music, from the series Shokoku meibutsu|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.27018726|website=Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa Tongarewa|access-date=February 9, 2022}}</ref>]]
{{nihongo||物の哀れ|'''Mono no aware'''}},{{efn|[[Historical kana orthography]]: {{lang|ja|もののあはれ}}, [[Modern kana usage|modern kana]]: {{lang|ja|もののあわれ}}. The old kana form remains preferred in modern usage.}} {{lit|the [[pathos]] of things}}, and also translated as {{gloss|an empathy toward things}}, or {{gloss|a sensitivity to [[ephemera]]}}, is a Japanese idiom for the aesthetic appreciation of {{nihongo|[[impermanence]]|無常|mujō}}, or transience of things, and both a transient gentle sadness (or [[wistfulness]]) at their passing as well as a longer, deeper gentle sadness about this state being the reality of life.<ref>{{cite web |date=January 25, 2019 |last1=Macdonald |first1=Fiona |title=Seven words that can help us be a little calmer |url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190124-seven-words-that-can-help-us-to-be-a-little-calmer |website=bbc.com |access-date=14 July 2019}}</ref>

==Origins and analysis==
The idiom<ref name=":22">{{Cite journal|last=Kato|first=Kazumitsu|date=1962|title=Some Notes on Mono no Aware|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/597529|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=82|issue=4|pages=558–559|doi=10.2307/597529|jstor=597529 |issn=0003-0279|url-access=subscription}}</ref> {{transliteration|ja|mono no aware}} comes from [[Heian period]] literature, but was picked up and used by 18th century [[Edo period]] Japanese cultural scholar [[Motoori Norinaga]] in his literary criticism of ''[[The Tale of Genji]],'' and later to other germinal Japanese works including the {{transliteration|ja|[[Man'yōshū]]}}. It became central to his [[philosophy and literature|philosophy of literature]]; he saw it as the main theme of ''The Tale of Genji''.<ref name=":22"/> His articulation was the result of well-established [[Poetics|poetic]] readings of ''The Tale of Genji'' and the concept became central to his own; ''Genji'' was "instrumental" in the term's establishment.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Yoda|first=Tomiko|date=1999|title=Fractured Dialogues: Mono no aware and Poetic Communication in The Tale of Genji|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2652721|journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies|volume=59|issue=2|pages=523–557|doi=10.2307/2652721|jstor=2652721 |issn=0073-0548|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://sunypress.edu/Books/T/The-Culture-of-Japan-as-Seen-through-Its-Leisure2 |title=The Culture of Japan as Seen through Its Leisure |publisher=[[State University of New York Press]] |year=1998 |isbn=9780791437926 |editor-last=Frühstück |editor-first=Sabine |pages=220 |editor-last2=Linhart |editor-first2=Sepp}}</ref> According to Norinaga, to "know" {{transliteration|ja|mono no aware}} is to have a shrewd understanding and consideration of reality and the assortment of occurrences present; to be affected by and appreciate the beauty of cherry blossoms was an example of this knowledge provided by Norinaga.<ref name=":22"/><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />

Japanese cultural scholar Kazumitsu Kato wrote that understanding {{transliteration|ja|mono no aware}} in the Heian period was "almost a necessity for a learned man in aristocratic society", a time when it was a prominent concept.<ref name=":22"/> [[Donald Richie]] wrote that the term has "a near-Buddhistic insistence upon recognition of the eternal flux of life upon this earth. This is the authentic Japanese attitude toward death and disaster".<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Feleppa|first=Robert|date=2004|title=Black Rain: Reflections on Hiroshima and Nuclear War in Japanese Film|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24460747|journal=CrossCurrents|volume=54|issue=1|pages=106–119|jstor=24460747 |issn=0011-1953}}</ref> Various other scholars have discussed the term.<ref name=":22"/>

==Etymology==
The phrase is derived from the Japanese word {{nihongo3||物|mono}}, which means {{gloss|thing}}, the particle {{transliteration|ja|no}}, which means {{gloss|of}}, and the word {{nihongo3||哀れ|aware}}, which was a [[Heian period]] expression of measured surprise (similar to {{gloss|ah}} or {{gloss|oh}}), translating roughly as {{gloss|pathos}}, {{gloss|poignancy}}, {{gloss|deep feeling}}, {{gloss|sensitivity}}, or {{gloss|awareness}}.{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}} {{transliteration|ja|Mono no aware}} has seen multiple translations, such as {{gloss|pathos of things}} and {{gloss|sensitivity of things}}; the Latin phrase {{lang|la|[[lacrimae rerum]]}} has also been invoked.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Saito |first=Yuriko |date=1985 |title=The Japanese Appreciation of Nature |url=https://academic.oup.com/bjaesthetics/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/bjaesthetics/25.3.239 |journal=The British Journal of Aesthetics |language=en |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=239–251 |doi=10.1093/bjaesthetics/25.3.239 |issn=0007-0904|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Due to the [[Buddhism in Japan#Early Heian Period Buddhism (794–950)|Buddhist influence in Japan]], the expression has also seen connection to the [[Three marks of existence#Anicca|Anicca]], which is one of the three marks of existence in buddhism, representing impermanence.

Awareness of the transience of all things heightens appreciation of their beauty, and evokes a gentle sadness at their passing.{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}} Norinaga saw the state of being {{transliteration|ja|aware}} as the fundamental condition of the concept.<ref name=":22" />

The term has seen gradual change in its meaning, although "from the beginning it represented a feeling of a special kind: 'not a powerful surge of passion, but an emotion containing a balance...'".<ref name=":5" />

==In contemporary culture==
{{transliteration|ja|Mono no aware}} is "one of the most well-known concepts in traditional literary criticism in Japan".<ref name=":3" /> [[Yasunari Kawabata]] was a considerable modern proponent of {{transliteration|ja|mono no aware}}.<ref name=":5" /> Norinaga asserted that the feeling of {{transliteration|ja|mono no aware}} may be so profound that allusions to [[sense]]s, highlighting "the sound of wind or crickets,{{nbsp}}[...] the colour of flowers or snow", would be the only apt expression.<ref name=":4" />

Notable [[manga]] artists who use {{transliteration|ja|mono no aware}}-style storytelling include [[Hitoshi Ashinano]], [[Kozue Amano]], and [[Kaoru Mori]]. In [[anime]], both ''[[Only Yesterday (1991 film)|Only Yesterday]]'' by [[Isao Takahata]] and ''[[Mai Mai Miracle]]'' by [[Sunao Katabuchi]] emphasize the passing of time in gentle notes and by presenting the main plot against a parallel one from the past.

By the 1970s, {{transliteration|ja|mono no aware}} had been adopted in Japanese and English film criticism with noted attention towards the Japanese director [[Yasujirō Ozu]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Standish |first=Isolde |date=2012 |title=The ephemeral as transcultural aesthetic: A contextualization of the early films of Ozu Yasujirō |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/jjkc.4.1.3_1 |journal=Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=3–14|doi=10.1386/jjkc.4.1.3_1 |s2cid=143760145 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Ozu was well known for creating a sense of {{transliteration|ja|mono no aware}}, frequently climaxing with a character very understatedly saying {{nihongo3|'Fine weather, isn't it?'|いい天気ですね|"Ii tenki desu ne?"}}, after a familial and societal [[paradigm shift]], such as a daughter being married off, against the backdrop of a swiftly changing Japan. Ozu has often expressed feelings by showing the faces of objects rather than the face of an actor. Some examples include two fathers contemplating the rocks in a "dry landscape" garden, and a mirror reflecting the absence of the daughter who has just left home after getting married.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/japanese-aesthetics/|title=2. Mono no aware: the Pathos of Things|date=10 October 2011|website=plato.stanford.edu|access-date=29 November 2018}}</ref>

[[Science fiction]] author [[Ken Liu]]'s short story {{transliteration|ja|Mono no Aware}} won the 2013 [[Hugo Award for Best Short Story]].<ref>{{cite web |title=2013 Hugo Awards |date=22 December 2012 |url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2013-hugo-awards/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906045317/http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2013-hugo-awards/ |archive-date=2015-09-06 }}</ref> Inspired by works like the science fiction manga {{transliteration|ja|[[Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō]]}}, Liu sought to evoke an "aesthetic primarily oriented towards creating in the reader an empathy towards the inevitable passing of all things", and to acknowledge "the importance of memory and continuity with the past".<ref>{{cite web |last=Mamatas |first=Nick |title=Q/A With Ken Liu (and the return of Intern Kathleen) |url=http://www.haikasoru.com/the-future-is-japanese/qa-with-ken-liu-and-the-return-of-intern-kathleen/ |publisher=Haikasoru |access-date=7 April 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530040356/http://www.haikasoru.com/the-future-is-japanese/qa-with-ken-liu-and-the-return-of-intern-kathleen/ |archive-date=30 May 2013 }}</ref>

[[Akira Kurosawa]]'s ''[[I Live in Fear]]'' and [[Shohei Imamura]]'s ''[[Black Rain (1989 Japanese film)|Black Rain]]'' have been associated with the term.<ref name=":1"/>

In [[Mike Carey (writer)|Mike Carey]]'s [[Rampart Trilogy]], "Monono Aware" is the pseudonym of a Japanese pop star whose personality and memories are licensed as content for the [[Sony]] DreamSleeve, an AI-enhanced music player released before the fall of human civilization.

==See also==
* [[Melancholia]]
* [[Vanitas]]
* [[This too shall pass]], a Middle-Eastern adage regarding ephemerality
Related terms with no direct translation in English:
* {{transliteration|ko|[[Han (Korean culture)|Han]]}}
* {{lang|la|[[Lacrimae rerum]]}}
* {{lang|la|[[Ubi sunt]]}}
* {{transliteration|ja|[[Mottainai]]}}
* {{transliteration|ja|[[Wabi-sabi]]}}
* {{lang|de|[[Weltschmerz]]}}
* {{lang|de|[[Sehnsucht]]}}
* {{lang|de|[[Saudade]]}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{cite web|url=http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/nakayama1/j231/history.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009050821/http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/nakayama1/j231/history.htm|archive-date=9 October 2012|title=Lecture notes}} from a Japanese culture class at [[Ohio State University]]

{{Emotion-footer}}
{{Death and mortality in art}}
{{Japanese social terms}}

[[Category:Concepts in metaphysics]]
[[Category:Emotions]]
[[Category:Concepts in Japanese aesthetics]]
[[Category:Japanese literary terminology]]
[[Category:Japanese words and phrases]]
[[Category:Philosophy of life]]
[[Category:Words and phrases with no direct English translation]]
[[Category:Kokugaku]]

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Mono no aware