Text | Do not escape (original is not easy, please do not reprint without authorization)
Beauty is truly radiant. — Plato
The movie "In Search of Senritsu" tells the story of The Japanese tea ceremony master Senritsu, who was ordered by Taikoku Toyotomi Hideyoshi to commit suicide by cutting his abdomen, but was revived by his wife's words.
The story moves forward from the day Chiritsu cut his belly, 21 years ago, during the Sengoku rebellion, Senritsu became a tea ceremony master of daimyo (the title of the feudal system in ancient Japan for lords), and saved Toyotomi Hideyoshi with his influence. Later, Oda Nobunaga was assassinated, Toyotomi Hideyoshi became a new generation of tyrants, and Senritsu became Hideyoshi's tea ceremony master. However, as Rishiu's ultimate pursuit of beauty and his personality that is not afraid of power cause Hideyoshi to be dissatisfied, and lixiu's popular influence far exceeds Hideyoshi's, Hideyoshi, who is jealous and suspicious, finally cannot tolerate this generation of masters who once saved his life...
Every frame of the film is incredibly beautiful, and the director perfectly presents the beauty of the loneliness that Senritsu has been pursuing all his life. Why is Senritsu able to carry forward the "beauty of silence" with the tea ceremony? This article will explain the socio-historical factors behind Japan's "aesthetics of silence" and the impact of the aesthetics of silence on today.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >, what is the "beauty of silence"? </h1>
"Silence" is an integral part of the Japanese aesthetic system, derived from the three seals of Theravada Buddhism (impermanence of actions, selflessness of dharma, and nirvana silence).
"Silence" was originally two words. Originally referring to harmony and tranquility, the word "侘" was later changed in Japanese to describe some kind of sad and desolate thing, a state of humility and harmonious coexistence with nature. And "silence" refers to the natural evolution of time, thus realizing that everything will become old and old.
The ancient haiku of the Japanese poet Matsuo Basho, "A Sound of the Frog Leaping ancient pond", perfectly embodies the artistic conception of the silence:
Furuikeya
Frog Jumps In
The sound of water
The ancient pond was silent, and the sound of frogs jumping into the water. After the natural sound of the moment returns to silence, nature and human senses touch in an instant, leaving people with a blow to the heart.
The whole system of the Lixiu Tea Ceremony is "侘び茶", which is to integrate natural and ancient things into the tea art and taste the tea enlightenment.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > two, what is the "beauty of silence"? </h1>
The beauty of silence is an aesthetic form that is difficult to describe specifically, which is a fusion of minimalism and conservatism, from objects to the soul are pursuing the ultimate dry, empty, simple, lacking, micro, old.
withered:
Can be materialized into dry landscapes. In some modern house designs, only the scattered stones and dead branches in the courtyard are left without flowing water, and this dry landscape is one of the most common forms of the aesthetics of silence. In the movie, it is shown that Qian Lixiu inserts the branches of the folded hibiscus flower in a bottle, watches it slowly wither until it withers, and experiences the beauty of the passing of life.
empty:
Aesthetics has a concept called "blank effect", which refers to the space left by the work for the reader's imagination and re-creation, and the reader can rely on his own cultural literacy to expand his thinking wings to think, so as to obtain a deeper understanding and grasp of the work.
Senrihu's tea room is empty, following the philosophy of "less is more" life. Less is the bondage of matter, more of the breadth of the mind.
lack:
The last part of the film is when Senrihu recalls his first love. After the death of his first love, Senritsu despised all monasticism and studied under the tea ceremony master Takeno Shoou. When Master was feeling that there was an inexplicable shortcoming in the new tea room, Qian Lixiu knocked off one of the ornaments in the tea room and knocked off one of the ears.
This is the mutilated beauty of the aesthetics of silence. You don't have to pursue the perfection of things too much, you have to learn to appreciate the imperfections, that is also the true face of things.
simple:
Simple is rustic, and the rougher the object, the better. From the thirteenth century, the tea ceremony was introduced to Japan from China, and was originally a recreational activity for the nobility, so all the utensils were imported from China, paying attention to exquisite and valuable. By the 16th century, Senritsu had gone the other way, abandoning all fine products and making all tea sets made of stoneware. This simple behavior of light utensils and heavy tea tasting is the basic concept of Yu zhi tea.
small:
The beauty of silence is the beauty of quiet little things. Senritsu is best known for his tiny tea room, which has only a half-seated seat and a half-cut door. Inside the light is weak, sunlight can only enter through a small window, from sunrise to sunset, small mottles slowly shift indoors. This pursuit of small changes in things is also one of the characteristics of the SenriKusui Tea Ceremony.
old:
In addition to being mutilated, the utensils must also be old, just like a flower must face the petals falling one by one before it withers away, which is the objective flow of life, and the beauty of silence tells us to face it squarely. This was the case with the charcoal-blackened wall in the Senritsu tea room, and he did not beautify it, allowing it to get older and older, and then the old black wall would emit the smell of time.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, the beauty of silence is the pursuit of Datong and the rebellion against class</h1>
Born in 1522 to a merchant family in Sakai, Japan, Senritsu was the master of the Japanese tea ceremony, and his founding of the "Waskei Kiyoshi" tea ceremony had a profound influence on the development of the Japanese tea ceremony.
Although Qianlixiu's family is well-off, he has been in the city since he was a child and understands the life of the common people. After entering the aristocratic class and becoming a tea head (the chief tea master of the lord), he saw through the hypocritical tea ceremony entertainment of the warriors, and in their eyes, the tea ceremony was just a way to compare materials.
Because Oda Nobunaga himself came from a noble background, he grew up with a golden spoon and had no interest in the rare treasures that other tea ceremonists paid tribute to, but instead Senritsu used a bouquet of water to show him the "Mirror Flower Water Moon", so as Nobunaga's tea head, Ritsu was still free to study the tea ceremony.
However, during the Toyotomi Hideyoshi period, because of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's humble origins, he became a power-maker and wasteful, trying to prove his dominance to the people of the world through wealth and power. Senritsu was not accustomed to the life of these extravagant warriors led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, so he rebelled silently through the minimalist way of serving tea.
There is a scene in the movie where several samurai and nobles secretly rebuke Senritsu for being rude to the tea ceremony. First of all, the reason is that the door of the tea room is only half-cut, and everyone must bend down to enter the tea room regardless of their status; secondly, the samurai's sword is not allowed to enter the tea room, and in Japan at that time, the samurai's sword was inviolable; then the tea drinking time was only four hours, during which the worldly affairs could not be discussed, and when the time came, the guests left on their own, and the master did not send them off, which also burned the faces of the warriors; finally, the people in the tea room shared a cup, wiped it with a paper towel and handed it to the next person, representing equality and not abandonment.
This pursuit of datong tea ceremony art made the scholar class feel humiliated by their status, but made the commoners feel that they were valued.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > fourth, the popularity of the beauty of silence meets the needs of the common people</h1>
First of all, the beauty of silence is characterized by mutilated beauty, rustic beauty and old beauty. The mutilated and rough pottery products are affordable for the common people, and the environment is also extremely simple and narrow, not seeking grandeur, so the commoner class does not even need to build additional tea rooms, and can concoct the same skills as the famous tea masters in their own small houses.
This is actually the "brand effect" at work. That is, the phenomenon caused by the intangible asset of the brand can bring new economic utilities to its owners or operators.
Enjoying the same tea-serving skills as the royal family at a very low cost, Qianlixiu's brand influence made Yuzhi tea widely popular among the commoner class.
On the basis of Yu no Tea, Senritsu founded the tea concept of "Hekei Kiyoshi", which was derived from the tea ceremony in line with the aesthetic needs of the people at that time, but touched the political interests of the ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
And, that is, harmony. In addition to the soft taste of tea, the atmosphere of the whole tea room should be more peaceful.
Respect, that is, mutual respect. The tea room has only a low entrance, and everyone who enters the tea room has no status difference and needs to respect each other.
Clear, that is, tidy. When the host greets the guests, the tea room needs to be thoroughly cleaned, and the guests also need to dust off the dust on their bodies.
Silence, that is, emptiness. Not only is there no arrangement in the tea room, but the hearts of people who enter the tea room should remain empty and do not ask about worldly things, so as to achieve the realm of washing the soul.
Senritsu simplified the tea ceremony process and pursued him, not only the commoner class pursued him, but even many of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's famous generals became disciples of Senritsu.
In the movie, Toyotomi Hideyoshi held an unprecedented tea ceremony meeting, but no one read his good, everyone ran to Senritsu's seat to observe the chief tea ceremony, and there was even a sentence from the crowd: "Senritsu is really the people's desire!" This is where Toyotomi Hideyoshi is most jealous, as the de facto ruler of a regime, the people are even less popular than a tea monk.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi feared that his people's excessive popularity would pose a political threat to him, so he tried to make Senritsu submit in various ways, including trying to marry Senritsu's daughter as a concubine, humiliating Senritsu's beloved disciple, forcing him to hand over the incense burner of his first love, and so on. But these are all means, and what he really wants is the will of the people of Qianlixiu, as if to make him submit is to make all the people of the world submit.
The so-called people who win the hearts of the people win the world, but Toyotomi Hideyoshi seems to not understand that this monk has taught the people to appreciate the beauty of silence that is in line with their own identity, and if they hurt Senritsu, it is equivalent to hurting the spiritual idols of the people of the world, and in the end it will only lose the hearts of the world.
Fifth, the beauty of loneliness is the sustenance of life and death in Japan's many disasters
In fact, the personal influence of Senritsu alone is not enough to make the beauty of the silence become a classic Japanese aesthetic of life, and more importantly, the history and geography of Japan have been plagued by many disasters and difficulties for thousands of years, forming a character of the Yamato nation that looks down on life and death.
The first is the historical factor.
In addition to the chaotic warring states in which the film is located, in the 12th century, the Genji family put the emperor under house arrest to establish the shogunate, the power of Japan was transferred from the emperor to the shogunate, and the samurai class became the ruling class, and for hundreds of years afterwards, all regions of Japan were in the stage of samurai groups competing for dominance, and the people's lives were constantly threatened by war.
The second is the geographical factor.
Japan's geographical location is exceptional. The island nation in the Pacific monsoon region has been eroded by typhoons for many years; it is also located in the seismic belt at the junction of the plates, and once the earthquake breaks out, in addition to the shaking of the ground, it is unknown whether it is a tsunami or a volcanic eruption.
The Yamato nation, which makes a living from farming and fishing, has had to resign itself to fate in the multiple injuries caused by earthquakes, volcanoes, typhoons and tsunamis, and for a long time it has formed an entire nation's indifference to life and death.
In the movie "In Search of Senritsu", Senritsu's daughter refuses to marry Toyotomi Hideyoshi as a concubine, and in order not to let her father be imprisoned, she chooses to commit suicide. In the movie picture, there is lonely snow drifting outside the window, Qian Lixiu uses flower branches dipped in tea soup to give the deceased daughter the last match of tea, and the old couple looks at their daughter calmly, without affection.
In the double blow of society and nature, the Japanese gradually formed a national character that appreciates beauty in suffering, so withering and dying are also one of the states of life in their eyes, and only by understanding the beauty of silence can they be a little more comfortable in the years of life and death.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >6. Why is the tea ceremony the most important medium for the beauty of silence? </h1>
The history of the Japanese tea ceremony dates back to the 13th century and was first brought into Japan by monks from China. Initially, monks practiced with tea to concentrate their thoughts, but later monks slowly associated their daily lives with Zen Buddhism, ethics and aesthetics, making it a comprehensive cultural and artistic activity.
Monks, on the other hand, had a high status in Japan, had their own manor territory and monks, and were an important auxiliary force for the division of the samurai clique. The close relationship between Japanese monks and the Japanese samurai class led to the tea ceremony being introduced to the upper class through the monks and became a pastime among the nobility.
Although during the reign of Oda Nobunaga, in the era of Senritsu, Japan was in the stage of trying to eliminate the strength of the monks, because Japan was a Buddhist country, the respect for the monks was not dissipated by the elimination of the monks. Just like the ancient Chinese politicians' pursuit of literati and inkers, Japan's pursuit of tea monks also means attaching importance to cultural cultivation, which is a kind of spiritual comparison. In the movie, Toyotomi Hideyoshi wants to include Oda Nobunaga's tea head Senritsu under his command, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was born a dalit, is very eager to be recognized by others in all aspects, and befriending Japan's first tea ceremony means that he not only conquers the world by force, but also wins the hearts and minds of the people with quality.
To sum up, the above is to develop the tea ceremony with the help of the nobility, and to carry forward the tea ceremony with the power of the commoners, so that the beauty of the tea ceremony will eventually become one of the Japanese aesthetic systems. This is why the tea ceremony has become the most important medium for the beauty of silence.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > seven, from the thousand lixiu to the present, watch the beauty of the silence outside the movie</h1>
Again, starting from a few characteristics of the beauty of silence, let's look at the embodiment of the beauty of silence in the present.
The Beauty of Dryness:
There is a type of art of dead branches in the art of modern flower arrangement. The dead branches contain a sense of vicissitudes, and in the flowers of one side, the bare dead branches are full of tension, like the old man dancing softly, recreating the beauty of the art of life.
The Beauty of Emptiness:
In recent years, interior decoration has abandoned the light luxury European style of the past and turned to a minimalist style. This is in line with the aesthetic "emptiness" of silence, decorating the space with the least number of objects, highlighting the emptiness of the interior, so that the tired body and mind of the work can be emptied back home.
Beauty of Park:
The Japanese grocery brand MUJI is also a practitioner of the aesthetics of the silent, which has revived the ancient aesthetics of the ancient silence in the modern business world by directly using simple materials such as cartons, aluminum, and plastics to create product forms for cheap groceries.
Micro Beauty:
Dou Wentao told in "Round Table Pie" that he traveled to Japan, when he booked a very famous homestay, and when he arrived, he found that the decoration was very simple and the light was very dark, but the owner of the homestay said that the most precious thing in their homestay was the beam of light projected by the small patio. This aesthetic pursuit is truly the beauty of silence, and this homestay, like the tea room of Senrihu, is the most beautiful thing is the faint spot of light that disappears at any time.
Missing and Old Beauty:
Mutilation and obsolescence are often symbiotic, and old items must be lacking. I remember when I went to some vintage coffee shops, the tables and chairs inside were often made of old wood, and there were gaps. I asked the boss, "Are these all from the old market?" The boss replied that these were all brand new, but deliberately old.
The four words "deliberately old" refreshed my vision, and it turned out that "old" can still be an industry in the new era, and the price is not cheap. However, although to some extent, the "old industry" follows the aesthetic concept of the aesthetics of the silence, but to a certain extent violates its values, the silence is to appreciate the natural evolution of the thing itself, rather than deliberately chasing the appearance of the old.
Viii. Write at the end
At the end of the movie, the story returns to the day when Senritsu cut his abdomen, only to see him dressed in a white monk's robe, refusing the minister's assistance, and the short knife stabbed into the body, and the blood color gradually bloomed on the monk's robe like a cherry blossom. He devoted his whole life to beautiful things, as he said: "Only beautiful things can make me bow my head." ”
The beauty of shuku has sprouted in Japan due to objective factors such as social, historical and geographical, but it has become one of the classic aesthetics with a long history due to the promotion of Senritsu. The core of silence is to appreciate imperfection, impermanence and beauty, just like Qianlixiu's regret for his first love and the failure to complete the end of life, these are imperfect, but they are not worth tangling. Learning to face the regrets in life calmly is the value brought to us by the beauty of QianliHu and Silence.