Japanese Design, Part 3 – Miyabi

Japanese Design, Part 3 – Miyabi

Of all the ideals we have looked at so far (the others being wabi-sabi and shibui) miyabi is perhaps the simplest to comprehend. Consequently there is the least written about it, due to how easy it is to grasp.

Essentially Miyabi means elegance. But in Japanese culture there is a huge appreciation of beauty, and thus they recognise varying shades and types of beauty. It is the same with elegance, which is a form of beauty. According to Japanese aesthetics there are different forms of elegance, and miyabi is just one. Miyabi is often connected with Mono no aware , which is a recognition of a beauty in transient things, such as a lone tree.

There is the assumption that to recognise this beauty the viewer must be educated and cultured, thus miyabi is a refined and educated elegance. Strict adherents to the miyabi aesthetic wish to rid the world of all forms of crude and uneducated beauty, to strip it back to pure elegance.

In interior design miyabi would mean having the finest, cleanest craftsmanship that is stripped back to its elegant bones. The home would be kept clean and orderly at all times.