Mono no aware

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For the German musical group, see Mono No Aware.

Mono no aware (物の哀れ, mono no aware^?, lit. "the pathos of things"), also translated as "an empathy toward things," or "a pity toward things," is a Japanese term used to describe the awareness of mujo or the transience of things and a bittersweet sadness at their passing. The term was popularized by the Edo-period scholar Motoori Norinaga, and was originally an idea from literary criticism. In his criticism of The Tale of Genji, Motoori noted that mono no aware is the crucial emotion that moves readers. Its scope is not limited to Japanese literature, as it is also associated with Japanese cultural tradition (see also sakura).^[1]

Notable manga artists who use mono no aware-style storytelling include Hitoshi Ashinano, Kozue Amano, and Kaoru Mori. The quintessentially "Japanese" director Yasujiro Ozu was well known for creating a sense of mono no aware, frequently climaxing with a character saying a very understated "ii tenki desu ne" (it is fine weather isn't it?), after both a familial and societal paradigm shift, such as daughter being married off. Norwegian Wood by the Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami is an example of this feeling as well^{[citation needed]}. British author Kazuo Ishiguro also is considered a writer in this style, particularly in his novels Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day. Former Stuckist artist and remodernist filmmaker Jesse Richards employs it in nearly all of his work, along with wabi-sabi.

Some Western scholars have compared it to Virgil's term lacrimae rerum.^[2]

[edit] External links

• Definition from the Japan Glossary by Richard Hooker of Washington State University
• Lecture notes from a Japanese culture class at Ohio State University

[edit] See also

• Wabi-sabi

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Choy Lee, Khoon. Japan--between Myth and Reality. 1995, page 142.
2. ^ Morris, Ivan I. The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan. 1994, page 197.