Vocabulary of Japan Aesthetics

Japan aesthetics is immence source of inspiration for a modern jazz performer or artist, which can extend its toolset with vocabulary of ancient terms, describing Art of Beauty.

• wabi - transient and stark beauty, understated elegance
• wabi-sabi is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection, based on:
• fukinsei (不均斉) - asymmetry, irregularity
• kanso (簡素) - simplicity
• koko (考古) - basic, weathered
• shizen (自然) - without pretense, natural
• yugen (幽玄) - subtly profound grace, not obvious
• datsuzoku (脱俗) - unbounded by convention, free
• seijaku (静寂) - tranquility, silence
• ma - a profound space or void from which the next note is 'born' or arises
• ura-byōshi - the silences in music that are alluded to by musical notes
• mono no aware - “the sadness of things”
• yugen - profound, remote, mysterious
• miyabi (雅) - highest grace, elegance, refinement, courtliness
• shibui (渋い) - beauty of simple, subtle, and unobtrusive beauty
• Iki - refined spontaneity, it suggests that people and objects are more attractive when they have a creative and unpredictable quality that is constrained by culture.