The aestheticization of wisdom and homeliness as a distinctive feature of the intellectual culture of Japan

The article reveals the distinctive features of Japanese aesthetic culture and the conceptual foundations of its main aesthetic categories (mono no aware, yugen, wabisabi, ma). It is shown that, in contrast to European rational aesthetic culture, which is characterized by the search for “logic” and “the number of beauty,” Japanese aesthetics is irrationally intellectual. Such irrationality is illustrated by the example of the category yugen (“intimate, secret”), which describes hidden beauty that cannot be described by number or shape. Another feature of traditional Japanese culture is the universal aestheticization of life, ability to transform everyday life into art. In this regard, it is argued that Japanese intelligence is aesthetic, and aesthetics reflects the wisdom of the true nature of things. Further, the idea of the ancient Greek kalokagathia, which unites the beautiful and morally perfect, is compared with the moral aspects of the Japanese theory of beauty. It is shown that the Japanese practice of asceticism, simplicity and naturalness, for example, in the theory of wabi (“modest simplicity”), is an important precondition for comprehending the beauty of the world, aestheticizing everyday life, and designing architecture. The work reveals that admiring the “sad charm of things” brings Russian and Japanese aesthetic feelings closer together. Particular attention is paid to the study of how the theory of beauty and the general worldview of the Japanese are reflected in their unique architectural concepts, in particular, in the idea of ma “meaningful emptiness.” In conclusion, it is argued that aesthetics in Japan is not just one of the directions of its culture, but its modus vivendi a way of life that determines the essence and wisdom of its entire traditional culture. It is assumed that the popularization of the Japanese aesthetic worldview can play an important role in global culture, contributing to the formation of “ecological thinking” and a contemplative, rather than consuming, attitude towards nature.

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