Mono no aware

This article is about the Japanese idiom. For the compilation album, see Mono No Aware (album). For the American organization, see Mono No Aware (organization).
Japanese woodblock print showcasing transience, precarious beauty, and the passage of time, thus "mirroring" mono no aware[1]

Mono no aware (物の哀れ),[a] lit. 'the pathos of things', and also translated as 'an empathy toward things', or 'a sensitivity to ephemera', is a Japanese idiom for the awareness of impermanence (無常, mujō), or transience of things, and both a transient gentle sadness (or wistfulness) at their passing as well as a longer, deeper gentle sadness about this state being the reality of life.[2]

  1. ^ "Men dancing to samisen music, from the series Shokoku meibutsu". Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa Tongarewa. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  2. ^ Macdonald, Fiona (January 25, 2019). "Seven words that can help us be a little calmer". bbc.com. Retrieved 14 July 2019.


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