Word
yugen
Phoneticsyu·gen
/ˈjuːɡɛn/
Definition
n. a deep, mysterious feeling of beauty that is hard to describe in words. It is often used to talk about the feeling you get when looking at nature or art that makes you think about the vastness of the universe.
n. a profound, mysterious sense of the beauty of the universe and the sad beauty of human suffering. In Japanese aesthetics, it refers to an awareness of the universe that triggers emotional responses too deep and powerful for words.
Examples
“The mist over the mountains gave the landscape a sense of yugen.”
“The traditional Noh performance was designed to evoke yugen, leaving the audience in a state of quiet, profound contemplation.”
“In Japanese aesthetic theory, yugen represents an elusive grace that suggests more than it shows, inviting the observer to perceive the hidden depths of existence through subtle imagery and shadow.”
Examples
simple
“The mist over the mountains gave the landscape a sense of yugen.”
contextual
“The traditional Noh performance was designed to evoke yugen, leaving the audience in a state of quiet, profound contemplation.”
complex
“In Japanese aesthetic theory, yugen represents an elusive grace that suggests more than it shows, inviting the observer to perceive the hidden depths of existence through subtle imagery and shadow.”
Usage
Borrowed from Japanese; typically appears in discussions of aesthetics, literature, or philosophy.
Real-World Examples
“However, Yugen 幽玄 also has an additional subtext: it also highlights the sad beauty of human suffering and existence, a very complex idea.” “Her wish, as a designer, was to distil the particular feeling that she had experienced while seeking shade in the temples of Kyoto, her hometown, until she alighted on yugen, which means, roughly, a deep sense of presence and peace found in the subtle beauty of life.” “And without yugen, without words that describe intangible, indefinable, yet humanly essential themes, without a language of mystery, without accepting mystery” Etymology
From Japanese 幽玄 (yūgen).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Domains
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