This photo in the ongoing series of the aesthetics of mono no aware (the pathos of things) was made whilst on an autumn poodle walk with Akira, our new silver standard puppy, in the local Waitpinga bushland:
The term mono no aware (物の哀れ) was coined by Motoori Norinaga, the eighteenth century literary scholar, with his study of The Tale of Genji that showed this phenomenon to be its central theme. He combined aware, which means sensitivity or sadness, and mono, which means “things.”. The mixture of these words can be translated as the pathos or the feeling of things and implies an awareness of the fleeting, impermanent nature of life (mujo).
Mono no aware suggests that impermanence should not just be accepted, but appreciated.. This aesthetic was captured by the poet Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694), arguably the greatest master of the Haiku. Many of his poems are revered as perfectly articulating mono no aware:
Summer grasses —
the only remains
of warriors’ dreams.
Impermanence, which essentially recognises the transitory nature of existence where nothing is permanent and everything is in perpetual flux, is celebrated through confrontying its practicalities as inescapable facts of existence. The transient nature of life makes it, and each individual moment and experience in it, more valuable.