Sensual Side of Japanese Culture Has Powerful Influence!

TOKYO – One of the most remarkable things about Japan’s traditional lifestyle was the role that the appreciation of beauty played in the daily lives of the people. It seems that the Japanese were among the few people known to history to have made aesthetics an integral part of their culture.

The origin of this extraordinary phenomenon, which was universal and applied to the high and the low alike, can be found in Shintoism, the indigenous religion of the Japanese, and in Taoism and Buddhism, the latter two imported from China between 400 and 600 A.D.

In Shintoism, nature is the handiwork of the gods. Recognizing and celebrating the beauty of nature is therefore a way of respecting and honoring both nature and its divine creators.

Lao Tsu, the founder of Taoism (The Way), taught that there was beauty in everything in nature, and that it was up to the viewer to see it. The great Tao masters who followed Lao Tsu further taught that it was possible to fully appreciate beauty only if a person allowed beauty to permeate his being and direct his life.

Buddhism recognized the beauty and harmony in nature, and advocated that people pattern their lives on the natural order of things, attempting to achieve both harmony and beauty in their daily lives.

The combination of these influences eventually permeated Japanese culture, becoming the guidelines and standards for the arts and crafts, for all of the artifacts and implements the Japanese used in their daily life, and for many of the recreational and cultural customs that developed over the generations, from flower-viewing to sightseeing.

These influences eventually culminated in the country’s famous “tea ceremony,” which is an exercise in pure aestheticism….rather than an occasion for drinking tea.

The nature of beauty as defined by the greatest tea masters is summed up in the word shibumi (she-buu-me), which can be translated as astringent, simple, conservative, unaffected, elegant, etc.

Shibui (she-booey) beauty is beauty that is in perfect harmony with nature and has a tranquil affect on the viewer. It imparts serenity, nobility and quiet luxury. It is a work of art in which all of the elements are harmoniously arranged and balanced.

After centuries of exposure to the principles and practices of shibui living the Japanese developed the ability to recognize and produce this quality almost instinctively. They did not have to strain to judge whether or not something was beautiful, or to create it.

It is the shibui quality in Japanese things that make them Japanese; that gives them an aura that is sensual and pleasing to the eye and to the touch. And it is the shibui aspects of Japan—from its architecture, arts, crafts, and interior decoration to how food is arranged on a tray—along with the character and behavior of the people, that foreign visitors find so appealing.

This shibui effect is visceral and sensual, and affects everyone, including those who are not consciously aware of its influence. It clearly explains why so many foreigners in the past chose to live in Japan despite many inconveniences and a long list of things they loved to complain about.

Virtually all of those old inconveniences and other reasons for complaining have disappeared, and while the traditional shibui side of life in Japan is often overshadowed by modern things, it is still there in abundance, providing an exotic and erotic flavor to life that continues to work its magic.

But experiencing this traditional side of Japan must be planned and done deliberately. Short-term visitors in particular should make a number of informed choices on what they want to see and do while in Japan, and plan their trip accordingly.

A few of the obvious things: spending at least one night in a Japanese style inn (ryokan / rio-kahn); dining in several Japanese style restaurants where patrons sit on tatami (tah-tah-me) reed-mat floors; spending at least one night in an onsen (own-sen) hot springs resort inn; attend and participate in a tea ceremony; go to a Zen Buddhist temple for a zazen (zah-zen) or seated meditation session; and watch a couple of chambara (chahm-bah-rah) movies -- those set in Shogunate times and featuring samurai warriors and townsfolk. [They are the Japanese version of American Westerns and such sword-fighting films as the tale of Robin Hood and pirate stories.] See my ebook: SABURO -- The Adventures of a Teenage Samurai in 17th Century Japan.

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business, first published in 1959, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.