Thoughtfactory’s Notebooks: Rhizomes

bark, trees, roads, bushland

Posts for Tag: Waitpinga bushland

dead leaves #4 (mono no aware)

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 Japanese aesthetic of mono no aware  emphasizes a gentle, wistful sadness or sorrow at the fleeting moments  in  the impermanence of life.

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).