Japanese Aesthetics and Their Appearance in the Filipino Family

By Joseph Paolo S. Vi

While most thoughts of beauty consist of ideals such as a flawlessness, permanence, and

wholeness, the Japanese philosophies of Wabi Sabi and Kintsugi bring forth a different notion of

the idea of beauty. Both Wabi Sabi and Kintsugi idealize beauty in those things that are

imperfect, ephemeral, lacking, and broken. In this essay, I hope to be able to do justice in

presenting forth the ideas of both philosophies, as well as their application within the current

time.

The term Wabi Sabi was first coined in the 14th century by the Japanese philosopher Sen

no Rikyu. The Japanese word wabi is best translated in English as remoteness or quietness, while

sabi is seen to mean withered or the serenity of age. Rikyu applies the philosophy in the context

of the Japanese tea ceremony. Rikyu notes how tea houses of his time and the subsequent

ceremonies were becoming outlandish and accessible only to the rich and affluent. Rikyu thinks

that the act of drinking tea should help the mind to reach a level of serenity, which was not being

done in those houses. He stipulates that tea houses should be small and intimate, that they should

be deep in the woods or in mountains, anywhere that could give the feeling that the house was

really separated from the rest of the world. The door should be made to be a little too low so that

everyone would have to bow before entering, thereby giving a sense of equality.

Wabi Sabi, as mentioned earlier, values the ephemeral, the imperfect, and the lacking.

This is easily seen in many traditional Japanese arts such as the aforementioned tea ceremony,

and Zen rock gardens. Pots and cups used in modern tea ceremonies are more often than not

asymmetrical with chips and nicks. Because these are pieces of pottery, it may seem as if the
potter was sloppy or amateurish in his designing, leaving it up to the individual to see the marks

of good craftsmanship within the piece. Indeed, art made in the so called Wabi Sabi style walks a

fine line between art and disaster, as the American artist Leonard Koren said, On a

metaphysical level, wabi-sabi is a beauty at the edge of nothingness. That is, a beauty that occurs

as things devolve into, or evolve out of, nothingness. Consequently, things wabi-sabi are subtle

and nuanced.

Kintsugi, Japanese for golden joinery is my next topic. It is the art by which broken

pieces of pottery are joined back together with lacquer mixed with gold dust or dust made out of

other metals. It is said to have originated when a shogun decided to get a ceramic pot repaired.

The pot was repaired using metal staples, which caused many other potters to follow a similar

style, eventually evolving into what it is now. Philosophically, Kintsugi is very similar to Wabi

Sabi in that both have a deep appreciation for those things that show their flaws. Kintsugi

highlights the fact that things will break eventually, and when they do they can be repaired so

that they may continue to be used for what they were made for instead of being discarded.

Christy Bartlett, in her book Flickwerk: The Aesthetics of Mended Japanese Ceramics, says that

the repair is highlighted... a kind of physical expression of the spirit of mushin....Mushin

is often literally translated as no mind, but carries connotations of fully existing within

the moment, of non-attachment, of equanimity amid changing conditions. ...The

vicissitudes of existence over time, to which all humans are susceptible, could not be

clearer than in the breaks, the knocks, and the shattering to which ceramic ware too is

subject.
However, I do believe that in doing the repair the way that it is done, that is, to highlight the

cracks, Kintsugi accepts beauty as a kind of perfection that can be achieved. This beauty, though,

can only really be seen once something has been broken. And being put back together that

beauty is improved.

Both philosophies, as mentioned earlier, emphasize the flaws in things as being the part

of their true beauty. This is such a pervading thought in Japanese aesthetics that people continue

to practice the concepts taught in Wabi Sabi and Kintsugi. Modern ideas of beauty center on

perfection in a very common and superficial definition (i.e. flawlessness). Wabi Sabi and

Kintsugi as aesthetic philosophies cannot be limited to the superficial.

I believe that when most people who are familiar with Japanese culture are asked to

describe it, they would say things like industrious or precise. Japanese culture in general is

indeed such; it pervades all levels of the work force from the highest to the lowest, from the

business to the home. This then begs the question as to how or why such a culture, so focused on

precision in everything from grades to business reports, would allow and even celebrate

imperfection in their aesthetics. I think that it comes out of necessity. The perfect juxtaposed to

the imperfect, as is exemplified in the modern Japanese tea ceremony, is a visible reminder of

how imperfection cannot be escaped. That no matter how perfect you may seem there is always

something that is imperfect. This is both a driving force and a humbling one. The reminder of

imperfection drives the person to do better, to transcend from where he is now. It is also a

reminder that no matter how hard he tries he will never be perfect, and when something awry

happens he should realize that those kinds of things happen and should be taken as experience

for the next time something like that happens.

To put it into a more local context, we know this year to be the Year of the Eucharist and the

Family, the family, I think, is a prime example of how the beauty that these two philosophies can

be exemplified. I would place the situation of the OFW and how we treat our elders as prime

examples.

Firstly, here in the Philippines, family life, the desire for family is, more often than not,

the focus of the vast majority of people. Yet it is sad to see here that many families are torn apart

not by divorce, as is the case in many other countries, but by the need to provide for their loved

ones. Families that are complete become incomplete, not because of hate, but because of love. It

is here that reflection must take place. To reflect on the why is what allows us to see the true

sadness of the separation, but the real beauty within it. Mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters all

leave the comfort of the land they love, of the people they love, because they love them. This

brokenness that results is, I imagine, difficult, but it serves to show just how beautiful the family

is, how, sometimes, in order to understand how valuable something really is, it must be broken.

Secondly, here in the Philippines, we place a great deal of importance toward our elders.

Children, even after graduating from college, finding a job, and getting married, will still live

with their parents. Perhaps out of necessity, but perhaps also out of respect. Respect of the

wisdom that their parents embody. Now though, modern communication makes accessing that

font of wisdom so much easier, even from halfway across the globe. However, even with that

and all the comforts that modern life has, once mom and dad reach that time in their life where

they can no longer care for themselves, their children make the effort to care for them. Again the

why is the most important question. I believe it comes from the Filipino concept of utang na

loob, which can be literally translated as the debt (that comes) from within. The need that

arises from within to repay the debt we owe to the people who cared for us. To see them not as a
nuisance, a hindrance to our lives, but as people who have stood as pillars of strength in life, not

because we really need anything from them, but because we see them as models to emulate.

The family, I believe, in its dynamic nature, serves as a clear model to ideas presented by

Wabi Sabi and Kintsuji, to how time and hardship will only serve to strengthen and beautify life,

from people who leave to people who age. Families, I think, do not understand the real value of

the people in their lives if they live lives hidden inside ivory towers. They understand more when

they go through difficulty, when they understand that their time with each other is limited, and,

as a result, they learn to cherish who they have, because those people wont be there forever.