Wabisabi — The Beauty of Transience and Imperfection 侘び寂び

Wabisabi 侘び寂び [pronounced “wah-bee sah-bee”] is “the beauty of transience and imperfection." While it does combine wabi 侘 – simplicity and sabi 寂 — the beauty of experience, two karatedō concepts of beauty, it really is much more than simply a compounding of the two.

Wabisabi 侘び寂び takes a mixture of simplicity, especially of geometric "stillness" and simple color palettes, and combines it with some level of transience (and sometimes even a sense of sadness or melancholy), and some patina of the passage of time.

With the addition of yugēn 幽玄 — a profound, mysterious sense of beauty, Wabisabi 侘び寂び provides a complete understanding of beauty and the aesthetic ideal.

The Synthesis of Beauty

Wabisabi 侘び寂び effectively combines the beauty of simplicity with the beauty of experience – something that has "history" or a patina of a past.

This combining, however, shouldn't be seen as a balance of the two forces in Wabisabi 侘び寂び. Rather, it is a mixture, and rarely (very rarely, in fact) are the two movements of Wabi and Sabi in anywhere near equal proportions.

Further, don't think of Wabisabi 侘び寂び as expressing some sort of "duality" between wabi 侘 and sabi 寂. Rather, works of Wabisabi 侘び寂び are almost all tilted towards one element versus the other.

As an example, consider a traditional Japanese garden of sand, rocks, perhaps some plants. Usually, these components are arranged in stark geometric lines and shapes, and very controlled color palettes. However, perhaps somewhere in the garden there is an old copper pot, green with a verdigris patina that shows its age. This combination of the simplicity and starkness of the shapes of the garden mixed with the copper pot is a wonderful example of Wabisabi 侘び寂び.

Consider further that, in this garden, there is a single cherry tree that blossoms once a year, for a few weeks. During those weeks, the delicate and colorful cherry blossoms of the tree overhang the garden, creating a splash of color over the simplicity of the garden and the patina of the copper pot. Those cherry blossoms exist for a short while, and then they disappear, not to be seen again for an entire year. This last part brings in the transience of beauty that is so integral to yugēn 幽玄, and complete the perfect combination of wabi 侘, sabi 寂, and yugēn 幽玄 that is Wabisabi 侘び寂び.

And while it may be quite possible to pick out the components of the beautiful garden that represent wabi 侘, sabi 寂, and yugēn 幽玄, it should also be noted that this separation of the components is a purely intellectual act of analysis. To appreciate the beauty of this garden, one should experience them not as a sum of the parts that make up the garden, but rather as one whole work of art.

The whole garden is a single, integrated expression of Wabisabi 侘び寂び.

The Value of Beauty is in Transience

The transience of beauty in the garden we just imagined is actually a very important part of Wabisabi 侘び寂び.

Beauty is valuable for several reasons: it gives us pleasure, it inspires us, it can delight or even make us think. But part of the value of beauty is that it is transient.

Beauty must be enjoyed and experienced while it exists, because there is a strong sense that beauty is impermanent. This increases the value of beauty immeasurably, and it also focuses our mind and spirit in the act of appreciating it.

Is there a sadness in this impermanence? Yes, of course there is. Wouldn't you want that beautiful sunset to "last forever" as we often say?

However, consider that a life composed of non-stop beautiful sunsets is actually quite an empty life. It is the transient and somewhat rare nature of beautiful sunsets that gives them value – and in fact, gives them yugēn 幽玄 – and if they were a commonplace experience that mysterious sense of beauty would frankly fade quite rapidly.

Where Beauty Resides

Beauty literally is all around us. It is certainly in nature, and it of course is in the buildings and places that we inhabit and that we visit.

But it is also in the people all around us. sabi 寂 teaches us so much about the beauty of experience, and in no other vessel is the beauty of experience concentrated as it is in people, especially our seniors.

And of course, beauty is in the objects that we prize, that we admire and cherish, and that we see in our homes, our cities, and in our museums. Each of these objects have different kinds of beauty, and the proportion of wabi to sabi varies. Yet, they all are beautiful in their unique and important ways.

Beauty as Focus and Discipline

We are forced to actually focus – literally to have nen 念 (mindfulness/"the now mind") – when examining and appreciating beauty. There is great value in this, because the act of focusing helps us to discipline our minds and ourselves so that we can not only enjoy and appreciate beauty, but so that we can be the better for having done so.

As we've noted, beauty indeed is all around us. But we don't "see" it without some level of effort or some amount of awareness.

To seek out beauty is itself an important action; to want to find and appreciate beauty is an important trait to develop in oneself.

However, even more important is to develop our focus and to discipline our awareness so that we see the beauty around us, in the places we work and live, in the people we meet, and in the objects with which we come into contact.

Why Beauty is Important to Karatedō

And finally, we should consider this: why is beauty so important to karatedō – and to our personal karatedō? Clearly it must be: we have four concepts expressly related to beauty within the framework that makes up the philosophy of karatedō: wabi 侘, sabi 寂, yugēn 幽玄, and Wabisabi 侘び寂び.

Beauty inspires us. Beauty brings us joy. Beauty makes us think, and beauty prods us to have gassho 合掌 (deep appreciation).

Imagine living a life without all those things – what a colorless empty existence! Karatedō fundamentally is about improving ourselves in every dimension: ren ma 錬磨 (constant improvement).

Without beauty, there is little opportunity for ren ma 錬磨. Without beauty, and an appreciation of it, we are one-dimensional cardboard cut-outs.

Beauty is not only the spice of life: beauty is an important part of our life, and our karatedō.

Editor's Note: This lecture was first delivered by Sensei at the Goju Karate dojo in New York City on 7 August 2024.