The Elusive Beauty of Imperfection

In a few words, one could say that wabi sabi is the beauty of imperfect things. Of course, that would be overly simplistic explanation for such a deep and profoundly rooted notion in the Japanese spirit. Something between an artistic concept, a philosophy of life and a personal feeling, wabi sabi is everywhere in Japanese culture.

In Japan, wabi sabi is imperceptible but everywhere: a crack on a teapot, the wood of an old door, green moss on a rock, a misty landscape, a distorted cup or the reflection of the moon on a pond.

In Wabi Sabi: The Japanese Art of Impermanence, Andrew Juniper defines wabi sabi as “an intuitive appreciation of ephemeral beauty in the physical world that reflects the irreversible flow of life in the spiritual world.”

Related to landscapes, objects and even human beings, the idea of wabi sabi can be understood as an appreciation of a beauty that is doomed to disappear, or even a ephemeral contemplation of something that becomes more beautiful as it ages, fades, and consequently acquires a new charm.