Wabi-sabi

Wabi comes from the verb wabu, “to be distressed”; in the Man'yōshū it describes the pain of love that goes unanswered. Over time, a life lived plainly, away from the world, came to be seen as elegant, and by the Middle Ages, under Zen's influence, people prized the faint moon among clouds over the full moon. Wabi grew together with tea: Takeno Jōō said it was being honest and unboastful, and the wabi tea of Jōō and Sen no Rikyū was not mere poverty. It set plain things beside splendid prized objects so that the splendid ones showed a deeper beauty. Sabi is a hushed, withered beauty in which something deep and rich can be felt; the haikai poet Matsuo Bashō turned the verb into a noun and made it one of the ideals of his poetry. The two words are close in feel, but each has its own history.

In a display of tea utensils, notice what stands beside what: a plain, everyday piece next to a splendid prized one.

• Chanoyu (tea ceremony) 茶の湯→Wabi grew together with tea.