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Glossary
Japanese words and concepts explained the way a curious friend would explain them. Not the way a dictionary would.
粋
iki
Edo-period (17th–19th century) urban aesthetic. The closest English word is "chic", but iki is more specific: it's chic with restraint, slig…
間
ma
The space between things — and the cultural conviction that the space matters as much as the things.…
侘寂
wabi-sabi
The aesthetic that finds beauty in imperfection, asymmetry, and the marks of time. The favorite Japan-concept of Western design Twitter, oft…
一期一会
ichi-go ichi-e
Four characters, literally "one period, one meeting". Tea-ceremony principle that this exact gathering — these specific people, this specifi…
勿体ない
mottainai
Roughly: "what a waste". But the literal makeup is religious — 勿体 is a Buddhist term for "the essential nature of a thing", and 勿体ない means "…