The Aesthetic Characteristics of Japanese Wagashi

I. Waka has an obvious non-political and non-social tendency, and the expression of love is the center of Waka

In the early stage of the introduction of Chinese poetry and poetic theory into Japan, the Chinese people's "poems speak of their wills" as well as the Confucianism's "national affairs and people's livelihoods" had once influenced Japanese poetic creation, which was reflected in the early Japanese poetic theory. The Chinese people's sense of social responsibility, such as "poetry speaks to the will" and Confucianism's "national affairs and social life", once influenced Japanese poetry, which was reflected in early Japanese poetic theories.

But the Japanese people's understanding of the nature of poetry differs greatly from that of the Han Chinese. "There is almost no criticism of social customs in waka, and very little in object stories written in kana. It is only when they are written in Chinese that Japanese writers follow the custom of continental literature and show their concern for society. However, this concern for society is different from that of the Tang poets". "In classical Chinese literature, there are many typical poems like Du Fu's that link the political society with his own destiny, either in anger or in lamentation, while there are almost none in the literary tradition of the Japanese state". "The Manyoshu songwriters hardly touched on political and social issues. In this sense, it is by and large in marked contrast to the contemporaneous Tang poetry."

The non-political and non-social tendency of waka is one of the distinctive features of Japanese waka, as well as one of the remarkable features of Japanese literature. The reason why waka has this non-political and non-social aesthetic tendency is inseparable from its ancient tradition.

On the one hand, from the folk origin of waka, waka originated from the incantations of the gods in witchcraft, and the gods used songs to praise the "divine marriage", which led to the emergence of "kaguragaki" as a way of wooing, i.e., to express love by "singing to each other". This gave rise to the courtship of "Gekigaki", which is the expression of love by "singing to each other". Ancient Japanese people used to sing, dance, and play all night long during certain seasons, and after choosing the person they wanted to be with, they engaged in sexual intercourse. Waka is a form of poetry that specializes in the expression of folk love between men and women. Since it is rooted in folklore and has a broad popular base, in the duets between men and women, and in the song contests, both parties try their best to adopt a variety of linguistic techniques to express their deep personal feelings, and thus the content of love possesses a specific form of expression and specialized techniques, which have made it difficult to change the content and form of the waka in the long run. A certain form in a literary work is the form required by a certain content, and conversely, the content is the content of a certain form.

On the other hand, from the perspective of Japanese cultural tradition, the myths depicting the origin of Japan in the Kojiki and Nihonshoki begin with love and sex. The ancient Japanese nation's worship of nature gods included the worship of sex. They portrayed sex with great seriousness and frankness. The two books, Ki and Ki, depicted male gods and goddesses copulating with each other without any concealment, and this kind of sexual behavior was called "divine marriage," from which the islands of Japan were produced. For the Japanese, the gods and goddesses who were worshipped by the people were allowed to enjoy sexual pleasure without any taboo, so it was considered natural and reasonable to have sexual intercourse. This influenced the ethical views of the Japanese people and their attitude of tolerance and praise towards sex, as well as the aesthetic taste of Japanese literature. The tradition of gender love expressed in waka is so y rooted that it is difficult to express anything else in this form.

Wagashi is mainly about love between the two sexes and the strong personal feelings that come with it, and therefore it uses a lot of symbols, metaphors, and shinji to express delicate personal feelings and unique thoughts. As far as the Manyoshu is concerned, most of the poems, except for a few that are influenced by the spirit of Chinese poetry and express responsibility for the "morality of the emperor," are written from the perspective of personal feelings, celebrating beauty, love, or the sorrows of love. "In Japan, the Manyoshu, no matter which poem is written, is just a song of the heart. ...... This is expressed not only in literature but also in paintings". It can be said that Waka's focus on sexuality and its emphasis on expressing one's inner truth are the hallmarks of the Japanese belief that "the way of art follows the way of nature," that the function of art is to "express the heart and mind," that "the heart comes first," and that "the expression of the heart is the first thing to be done.

The aesthetic concept of "poetry is a manifestation of the heart" was already established in the period of Man Ye Ji, which led to the creation of the concepts of "truth," "heart," and "sorrow" in the poetic theories of that era. The categories of "truth," "heart," and "grief" in the poetic theories of that era were created. In the ancient Japanese word "マこと", "マ" refers to the essence, the truth, and also the It also refers to the sincerity of emotions. The word "真" (ま), which is used in the earliest Japanese texts, the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Events) and the Nihonshoki (Chronicle of the Books of Japan), refers mainly to the truth of facts. The concept of "truth" in the poems of "Manabeji" has transitioned from the truthfulness of facts such as true events and true words in "Kojiki" and "Nihonshoki" to the truthfulness of the individual's feelings and heart, i.e., the truthfulness of the human nature in the field of aesthetics, and thus laid down the basic idea of the category of "truth" in the Japanese aesthetics. This established the basic idea of "truth" in Japanese aesthetics. The author of the pseudonymous preface to the Ancient and Modern Songs, Kikunobu, emphasized that poems are "heart-based," which means that the complex and rich emotions of the individual are expressed in a simple, honest, and sincere manner. In this regard, it can be said that authenticity and naturalness are the same and identical. In the Japanese concept of aesthetics, authenticity and naturalness are identical and interchangeable. "Heart" means emotion, the true feelings in the heart. The word "love" in Manyo no Renge is pronounced as "kokoro" (heart) in more than a hundred places. It is clear that heart and love are synonymous, that the heart is true love, that the heart is deep, that love is deep, that the heart is the motive, and that love is the manifestation. The category of "heart" is the basis for the existence of "truth", and "truth" is embodied by "heart". This shows that the heart is the main body of emotion, the fundamental factor that constitutes the beauty of waka, and the basic criterion for judging the beauty of poetry. "According to Japanese scholars, the word "哀" (あはれ) has the same sound as the Japanese kanji "哀", so it is also written as "哀". あはれ" is also written as "哀". As an aesthetic concept, "哀" refers to the sadness and deep sighs that people feel when they are faced with the impermanence, changeability, and fickleness of natural things. "Grief" is the true expression of the subject's spirit and emotion, and it is the most expressed emotion in waka, as well as the dominant emotion in the emotional world of the Japanese people. It is also the dominant emotion in the emotional world of the Japanese people. It can be seen that waka is mainly an expression of personal feelings, especially sentimental love. The aesthetic tradition of focusing on the inner emotional world of the individual is far different from the aesthetic tradition of Chinese poetry, which focuses on "the world's needs" and "the people's livelihood", thus showing the unique aesthetic characteristics of Japanese poetry.

The pursuit of expressing instantaneous impressions and feelings

Japan is a country with distinct seasons, and the change of seasons brings changes in the form and color of things, and this kind of fluctuating nature contributes to the Japanese people's sensitivity to the change of nature and delicate psychology. French art historian Elie Faure pointed out that "the Japanese have always had a strong sense of sensibility and acuity." They always focus on the natural things and scenes around them, everything in nature is fleeting, all forms and colors are temporary existence, this impermanence and changeability, gave them a deep impression. After the introduction of Buddhism to Japan, the Buddhist concepts of "the impermanence of all actions" and "color is emptiness and emptiness is color" not only confirmed but also greatly strengthened the sense of "impermanence. The impermanence of the world and the transience of everything expressed in waka is a personal experience of the existence of an individual life, and this has led to the formation of the "aesthetics of wind". Tomonobu Imamichi says, "According to the general way of thinking of Japanese people, they often regard beauty as something that is very remote, and as a phenomenon that disappears very quickly." This is a reflection of Zen's view of impermanence in poetry. The Japanese like to symbolize the concept of "impermanence" in the world by the changes in the life forms of plants. In poetry and prose, the Japanese express the beauty of the seasons in rich, colorful, and delicate natural objects, and express their heartfelt sorrow for the fleeting nature of life, thus forming the sense of "seasonal themes" in poetry that celebrates the scenery of the four seasons. "The sense of seasonal theme originates from the sense of seasons. Without the feeling and even affection for the natural objects of the four seasons, the consciousness of the seasons will not arise." It can be seen that the seasonal theme in poetry is formed by the feeling and excitement of natural objects. The famous Japanese master Hiromitsu said in "Bungo Myifu - Thesis Ideas", "Spring, summer, fall and winter colors, always set up your ideas." Matsuo Basho, the famous haiku master, said, "To be in the midst of elegance and style is to be in tune with creation." "It is called to follow creation, and to take the four seasons as friends. There are flowers in every view, and the moon in every thought." This concept is very similar to the idea of "sense of things" in classical Chinese poetry theory. The difference is that classical Chinese poetry is more often oriented from the "sense of things" to the expression of life's aspirations and ideals, to the nostalgic sighs of history and concern for the society. Wagamama's "sense of things" (the seasonal theme) leads to a philosophical realization of life's "impermanence," and to feelings of loneliness and sadness. Because waka focuses on the natural scenery of the four seasons and uses the changes in the natural scenery to express the transience and impermanence of life, the jisai poems in waka make a deliberate effort to fully express the poet's instantaneous impressions and feelings. As a result, there are many scenes written in waka and fewer lyrical ones; the expression of instantaneous feelings is deep and clear, while the description of objects is specific and delicate; there are many sentimental moods that remember the instantaneous state of affairs, and fewer expressive of bright and cheerful moods. For example, in "The Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves", there is: "This world has no permanent residence, the heart has known it for a long time, and the cold wind of autumn enters the house, which makes people think even more." "Empty cicadas are the world, and the world's affairs are lost. What I saw in the distance was a high mountain, but now it has become a place of longing." "The sea is dead and the mountains are dead. There's no doubt about it. When the sea dries up, the mountains wither." "The women draw water in groups, the water splashes like hemp, and the temple well is surrounded by flowers." "A thousand birds chirp in the night, and the birds on the river make a racket, since ancient times people's hearts have been broken, and they are sadly thinking of ancient times."

Another example is Matsuo Basho's haiku: "The robin is barking, not knowing that the time of death is approaching." "Fireflies, just as they fall from the grass, they rise from the grass." "Under the white snow, the only living thing, sprouts light purple buds." "Every year, cherry petals fly, and the flowers are turned

into fertilizer." "At dusk in autumn, there are no pedestrians on this road." "The wind shakes the banana leaves, and the rain falls on the basin." "In the courtyard in winter, the insects chirp the slender moon like silk." For example, in a haiku with Xie Wucun: "The spring rain is falling softly, wetting the little shells on the beach." "The mosquitoes are whispering, just as the winter flowers are falling." "It's lonelier than last year, the twilight of autumn." "The willows fall, the water dries up, the river rocks come out everywhere." "A line of geese, the moon on the hill." "The petunia flower is the color of the abyss." "The moonlight is cold on a winter night, and there are three poles of bamboo among the withered trees." "Pine shines brightly across the bridge, and the night frost shines brightly." Another example is a haiku by the famous poetess Chiyo Kaga: "Ah, petunias! It's wrapped around the pail, carrying water to the neighbor's house." The haiku describes a young girl who goes to the well early in the morning to draw water, only to find that the bucket has become entangled in the petunia's tendrils overnight, and she can't bear to destroy the delicate tendrils, so she carries the water to her neighbor's house. The above poems show the poet's observation of the delicate, they show the life of life through the tiny scenes of interest, but also through the capture of the momentary impression of things to express the essence of life to express the feeling of the essence of life, to express the love of life.

So Dai Jitao said: "Japanese people for the appreciation of natural beauty, is very much a subtle interest." Will Dolan said: "For the Japanese, each poem should be a static record of its momentary inspiration." Not only waka, but also Japanese prose is characterized by a preference for describing momentary impressions or feelings, which is also evident in Kiyosho Nayan's Pillow Grass Son and Yoshida Kaneko's Tourenkusa. The psychological feeling of focusing on the momentary state of things and depicting the impermanence and fragility of nature is a ****same characteristic of Japanese literature and art, but it is particularly expressed in the waka.

Third, the form of waka is short, the verses are concise, and the meaning is subtle and far-reaching

From the time of the Manyoshu to the modern times, the form of waka is short, and the few long poems are translated into Chinese with only 50-60 verses, so it can be seen that the form of waka is one of the most important characteristics of the short form of the waka. There are two reasons for the shortness of waka: firstly, from the tradition of waka, waka emphasize on lyric rather than narrative, and lyric poems are often good at pouring out bursts of emotion or instant mental impressions, and the form is not as long as narrative poems; secondly, the aesthetic thought of Buddhist Zen Buddhism has profoundly influenced the form of waka creation. According to Zen Buddhism, all things are born and die, and life forms are transformed and reincarnated into other life forms after death. Therefore, in the life of all things, I have you, you have me, this continuous transformation, endless derivation of the "chain of life" is the basis of thinking of the concepts of Zen Buddhism, "one is many, many is one" and "finite is infinite. This "chain of life" of continuous transformation is the thinking basis of Zen's concepts of "one is many, many is one" and "finite is infinite. The so-called Zen enlightenment is to see the world in the smallest detail, and to realize the "true nature" of Buddha nature in the "impermanence" of natural things, which is "color is emptiness and emptiness is color". The so-called Zen is the artistic expression of the truth realized in the harmony between human life and nature, and in the realization of the impermanence and transience of nature. Contemporary Japanese Zen master Daikaku Suzuki said: "Zen is indeed confronted with the same universe and nature as we are, and is y interested in the same object and the same special existence as we are. The frog leaps into the pool, the snail sleeps in the banana leaf; the butterfly flutters on the flower, the moon leaves its shadow in the water; the lilies bloom in the fields, the autumn rain beats against the eaves of the cottage...". For all these natural scenes, which change according to the four seasons, Zen is very excited." The Zen concepts of "one is many, many is one" and "the finite is the infinite" dictate that Japanese art does not seek to be comprehensive and perfect, but rather "the incomplete is the complete", Instead, Japanese art tends to express the meaning of the artist's heart in the way of "a leaf knows the autumn", which also strengthens the short and simplified character of the waka form. From the development of waka to haiku in the Manyoshu, we can clearly see the trend of shorter and more concise forms of waka. The Japanese haiku is the shortest form of waka and was formed as an independent poetic form in the 15th century. It is separated from the "haiku" of the longer "renga". It has only 17 tones in the whole song, and the stanzas are 5, 7, 5. There is a strict limitation on the number of tones and stanzas. The Japanese language is complex, different from the Chinese monotone, for example, the word "I" has four syllables, which shows how short and concise the haiku is. Such a short form determines the specificity of its content: the things or scenes it expresses can only be extremely simple and specific, and the emotions expressed can only be instantaneous feelings and fragmentary impressions, which determines the high degree of condensation or refinement of haiku. Concentration or condensation means that in an extremely short form, it maintains all the characteristics of poetic meaning, or even that it expresses the aesthetic characteristics of the poem in a more concentrated way. It requires the poem's innuendo, symbolism, implication, flavor, rhyme and mood more fully, and more demanding poetic meaning "without a word, all the wind flow", more "beyond the meaning" and "strings outside the voice "The aesthetic effect of the poem is even more important, for example, Matsuo Basho's haiku. For example, Matsuo Basho's haiku: "The grass and trees are deep in summer, and the samurai dreamed about it." "Ancient pond, the frogs jumped into the water and rang." "Sleeping on the back of a horse in a haze, the moon is far away from the sky with the remnants of a dream, and the smoke of tea is faint." "It's hard to sleep when I'm drinking alone. The night comes with wind and snow." Another example is the haiku with Xie Wucun: "In the spring rain, walking as a plea, straw raincoat and umbrella." "In the plum rain, two families face the river." "I stepped on my late wife's hairbrush and felt the coolness of my room." And then there's Kobayashi Ichika's haiku: "How beautiful! The Milky Way through a hole in a paper window." "Icicles hang from the nose of a wild Buddha." "Enough fuel, fallen leaves sent by the wind."

Fourth, the pursuit of the expression of Zen aesthetic ideals and the realm of beauty

The short form of the Song of Peace, as well as the deep influence of Zen thought, determines that it not only seeks to be subtle and far-reaching, but also seeks to express the ethereal freedom of the aesthetic realm, and expresses the Zen spirit of quietness, poverty, desiccation, and the joy of wit. For example, the above quoted verses and a poem in Volume 18 of The Collection of Ancient and Modern Harmonies: "The wind is blowing vigorously, and the white waves are rolling like the heavens, in the mountain of Longtian. In the middle of the night you go, and cross this pass alone." These poems either contrast the eternal silence with the instantaneous sound, or express the long history with one scene and one object, or show the loveliness of life with the tender flowers and vines, or set off the loneliness of the characters with the dynamic scenery, and each of them expresses the far-reaching meaning in its own way. This kind of simple form and individual things to express the eternity of time and space and the pleasure of life is the spirit of Zen. Zen believes that the colorful and ever-changing world is only an image of impermanent change, and therefore only an illusion, not the truth of existence. All things are the result of karmic harmony, not a single essence of physical existence, and therefore are all empty. Throughout history, only the nature of "color is emptiness" is the truth, and the truth is as immovable as it is, so the truth is lonely and solitary, and in philosophical terms, it is abstract, which is to say that the truth of emptiness is self-enrichment and does not pretend to be sought from outside; it is also impoverished and simple. That is to say, the truth of emptiness is self-enrichment, not seeking from outside; it is also poverty and simplicity. Zen is not interested in the complicated phenomena on the surface of life. The essence of life and living that Zen affirms is simplicity. To understand Zen is to realize this nature of Zen. Silence is one's intuitive realization of the nature of eternal space and time, and it is the state of mind of the subject required by Zen, which "is called idle silence in the dictionary of Japanese cultural terms. Its true meaning is 'poverty'.... It is called 'poverty' because it is free from attachment to all worldly things, such as wealth, power, honor, and so on. This kind of idleness is like a person living in a small hut, picking some vegetables in the ground behind the hut when he is hungry, listening to the sound of spring rain when he is idle; gazing at the world in front of his eyes without moving his mind, as quiet as the water of an ancient well, and as bright as a candle with no wind; the state of Zen is this kind of idleness and a wonderful state of mind, that is, the immovable "emptiness" of life. It is also the manifestation of "emptiness" in life. As a result, the "aesthetics of idleness and silence" of Japanese Zen poetry was created. For example, Matsuo Basho's haiku: "Loneliness is just like the heart of a traveler, the flower of a sepulchre. "Locking the door, I don't want visitors, but I am comforted by the petunias, which bloom by the wall in the daytime." "Autumn is deep! I wonder what my neighbors are doing." Another example is the haiku with Xie Wucun: "The monk boiled five or six liters of taro just to enjoy the moon tonight." "I bought a handful of green onions, and returned to the road in the withered forest." All these poems y express the state of mind of "idleness" and "dullness" as well as the long-lasting Zen feeling.

What is closely related to "idleness" is the beauty of "dullness". "Kudo" is the style that is formed in the art of waka by expressing this idleness and quietness. People express ordinary things with an ordinary heart, not exaggerating or decorating, not pleasing the eye with bright colors, and not moving the heart with ostentation. In poetry, they use sincere and natural language to express their feelings; in paintings, they use dull brushwork and ink to depict objects with deep emotion; in architecture, they pay attention to the original color of the materials instead of using artificial oil paint; and in gardens, they use dull landscapes, etc. All of these are the reflections of the idea of the aesthetics of dullness in their artistic creations. This is what Daisuke Suzuki called "non-equilibrium, non-proportionality, 'one corner', paucity, simplicity, silence, emptiness, loneliness, and other similar concepts that can constitute the most distinctive characteristics of Japanese art and culture, all of which originated from the inner realization that They all stem from the inner realization of the Zen truth that 'one is many, and many is one'. This is the symbolism of Zen beauty."

The aesthetic characteristics of Japanese waka have evolved over the course of more than a thousand years of history. Waka is the result of the fusion of the Japanese people's native aesthetic sense with the introduced Chinese culture. The aesthetic characteristics of waka fully express the complex relationship between local aesthetic consciousness and the recognition, absorption and abandonment of foreign aesthetic culture. In the face of the trend of economic globalization in the 21st century and its profound impact on culture, the formation process of the aesthetic characteristics of the Song of Peace can be taken as a typical example to illustrate the interactive relationship between foreign culture and local culture, which both collide with each other and need to be imported and learned from each other.