“Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better.”
- Henry Rollins

Among my courses this quarter I have the pleasure of taking two that have strangely become interwoven in the last few days.
My Asian Households and Families course and Globalization, Modernity, and Cinema.
In these classes we recently watched a movie titled Early Summer by Yasujiro Ozu which centers around a young woman named Noriko in post World War II Japan. Her life as a 28 year old single woman in the workplace and providing economic support for her brothers family provide the backdrop of the story as attempts are made and arguments ensue around finding a suitable husband for her.

Though understated and subtle one of the most striking aspects of this movie is the emphasis on loneliness. In my analysis and discussion of this movie it reminded me of one of my favorite Japanese concepts: Mono no aware

Mono no aware seems to have a number of translations and interpretations but the one that i have found to be simultaneously profound and simple is the sadness of being human… Other interpretations focus on an empathy toward things, or an awareness of things around you and their transience.

An interesting post I found that further developed many of these interpretations can be found here:
http://keywords.oxus.net/archives/2004/08/27/mono-no-aware/
Which further describes it as an empathy of things and feelings, and a sympathetic sadness or appreciation of transient things.

All of these I feel connect back to the human equation. That fundamental appreciation of the impermanence of human life and its frailty. The beauty that can be found in a simple sunset or moment in time and the understanding that it will pass out of existence in much the same manner life itself will. This acts as a sort of sympathetic empathy connecting all things.

Mono no aware…. the sadness of being human. The appreciation of the melancholy nature of the human condition that ultimately serves to remind us of the importance of all things around us…

“Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for.”
-Dag Hammarskjold

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