Mono no aware - wikipedia Mono no aware For the organization, see Mono No Aware ( organization ). Mono no aware ( 物 の 哀れ ), literally `` the pathos of things '', and also translated as `` an empathy toward things '', or `` a sensitivity to ephemera '', is a Japanese term 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. Contents 1 Origins 2 Etymology 3 In contemporary culture 4 See also 5 References 6 External links Origins The term comes from Heian period literature, but was picked up and used by 18th century Edo period Japanese cultural scholar Motoori Norinaga in his literary criticism of The Tale of Genji, and later to other seminal Japanese works including the Man'yōshū. It became central to his philosophy of literature and eventually to Japanese cultural tradition. Etymology The phrase is derived from the Japanese word mono ( 物 ), which means `` thing '', and aware ( 哀れ ), which was a Heian period expression of measured surprise ( similar to `` ah '' or `` oh '' ), translating roughly as `` pathos '', `` poignancy '', `` deep feeling '', `` sensitivity '', or `` awareness ''. Thus, mono no aware has frequently been translated as `` the ' ahh - ness ' of things '', life, and love. Awareness of the transience of all things heightens appreciation of their beauty, and evokes a gentle sadness at their passing. In his criticism of The Tale of Genji Motoori noted that mono no aware is the crucial emotion that moves readers. Its scope was not limited to Japanese literature, and became associated with Japanese cultural tradition ( see also sakura ). In contemporary culture Notable manga artists who use mono no aware -- style storytelling include Hitoshi Ashinano, Kozue Amano, and Kaoru Mori. In anime, both Only Yesterday by Isao Takahata and Mai Mai Miracle by Sunao Katabuchi emphasize the passing of time in gentle notes and by presenting the main plot against a parallel one from the past. In addition, the Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu was well known for creating a sense of mono no aware, frequently climaxing with a character very understatedly saying `` Ii tenki desu ne ? '' ( いい 天気 です ね, `` Fine weather, is n't it ? '' ), after a familial and societal paradigm shift, such as a daughter being married off, against the backdrop of a swiftly changing Japan. In his book about courtly life in ancient Japan, The World of the Shining Prince, Ivan Morris compares mono no aware to Virgil 's term lacrimae rerum, Latin for `` tears of things ''. Science fiction author Ken Liu 's short story, `` Mono no Aware '', won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. Inspired by works like the science fiction manga Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō, Liu sought to evoke an `` aesthetic primarily oriented towards creating in the reader an empathy towards the inevitable passing of all things '', and to acknowledge `` the importance of memory and continuity with the past ''. Nobel - and Booker Prize - winning British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro ends many of his novels without any sense of resolution. The issues his characters confront are buried in the past and remain unresolved. Thus Ishiguro ends many of his novels on a note of melancholic resignation. His characters accept their past and who they have become, typically discovering that this realization brings comfort and an ending to mental anguish. This can be seen as a literary reflection of the Japanese idea of mono no aware. Films like Alain Resnais ' Hiroshima Mon Amour, Shohei Imamura 's Black Rain and Akira Kurosawa 's I Live in Fear have all been associated with the term. See also Melancholia Media and written works : In Search of Lost Time `` Ballade des dames du temps jadis '' Lost in Translation Last Life in the Universe Related terms with no direct translation in English : Han Lacrimae rerum Memento mori Mottainai Nine Changes Wabi - sabi Ubi sunt Weltschmerz Sehnsucht Saudade References Jump up ^ Choy Lee, Khoon. Japan : Between Myth and Reality. 1995, page 142. Jump up ^ Morris, Ivan I. The World of the Shining Prince : Court Life in Ancient Japan. 1994, page 197. Jump up ^ `` 2013 Hugo Awards ''. Jump up ^ Mamatas, Nick. `` Q / A With Ken Liu ( and the return of Intern Kathleen ) ''. Haikasoru. Retrieved 7 April 2013. Jump up ^ http://www.crosscurrents.org/FeleppaSpring2004.htm External links `` Lecture notes ''. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. from a Japanese culture class at Ohio State University Emotions ( list ) Emotions Adoration Affection Agitation Agony Amusement Anger Anguish Annoyance Anxiety Apathy Arousal Attraction Awe Boredom Calmness Compassion Contempt Contentment Defeat Depression Desire Disappointment Disgust Ecstasy Embarrassment Vicarious Empathy Enthrallment Enthusiasm Envy Euphoria Excitement Fear Frustration Gratitude Grief Guilt Happiness Hatred Homesickness Hope Horror Hostility Humiliation Hysteria Infatuation Insecurity Insult Interest Irritation Isolation Jealousy Joy Loneliness Longing Love Lust Melancholy Mono no aware Neglect Nostalgia Panic Passion Pity Pleasure Pride hubris Rage Regret Rejection Remorse Resentment Sadness Saudade Schadenfreude Sehnsucht Sentimentality Shame Shock Shyness Sorrow Spite Stress Suffering Surprise Sympathy Tenseness Wonder Worry World views Cynicism Defeatism Nihilism Optimism Pessimism Reclusion Weltschmerz Death and mortality in art Themes Carpe diem Consolatio Danse Macabre Death and the Maiden Lamentation of Christ Macabre Memento mori Mono no aware Sic transit gloria mundi Ubi sunt Personifications of death Vanitas Forms Death mask Elegy Funerary art Funerary text Lament Memorial Post-mortem photography Requiem Tomb Tragedy Wreath Artwork Architecture Capuchin Crypt Sedlec Ossuary Film ( category ) The Seventh Seal Literature Ars moriendi Bardo Thodol Book of Job Book of the Dead Hamlet 's soliloquy The Masque of the Red Death Music ( category ) Danse macabre Der Erlkönig Der Tod und das Mädchen Totentanz Painting ( category ) Et in Arcadia ego Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May La Calavera Catrina Pyramid of Skulls Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette The Ambassadors Poetry ( category ) And death shall have no dominion Der Erlkönig Do not go gentle into that good night Japanese social concepts and values People Terms Senpai and kōhai ( 先輩 / 後輩 ) Freeter ( フリーター ) Kyōiku mama ( 教育 ママ ) Reki - jo ( 歴 女 ) Net cafe refugee ( ネット カフェ 難民 ) Parasite single ( パラサイト シングル ) Aesthetics Shibui ( 渋い ) Iki ( いき ) Yabo ( 野暮 ) Mono no aware ( 物 の 哀れ ) Wabi - sabi ( 侘 寂 ) Yūgen ( 幽玄 ) Ensō ( 円 相 ) Miyabi ( 雅 ) Kawaii ( かわいい ) Yawaragi ( 和らぎ ) Obligation Gimu ( 義務 ) Giri ( 義理 ) Giri choco ( 義理 チョコ ) Honmei choco ( 本命 チョコ ) Ninjō ( 人情 ) Other terms Mottainai ( もったいない ) Honne and tatemae ( 本音 / 建前 ) Wa ( 和 ) Miai ( 見合い ) Yamato - damashii ( 大和 魂 ) Ishin - denshin ( 以心伝心 ) Isagiyosa ( 潔 さ ) Hansei ( 反省 ) Amae ( 甘え ) Kotodama ( 言霊 ) Misc Japanese political values Shame and Japan Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mono_no_aware&oldid=813199864 '' Categories : Japanese literary terminology Japanese philosophy Japanese aesthetics Japanese words and phrases Emotions Melancholia Words and phrases with no direct English translation Hidden categories : Articles containing Japanese - language text Talk Contents About Wikipedia Čeština Eesti Español فارسی Français 한국어 Հայերեն Italiano עברית 日本 語 Polski Português Русский Simple English Suomi Svenska Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 2 December 2017, at 10 : 55. 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Question: what does mono no aware mean in japanese
Answer: the pathos of things