“Kawaii” is the mainstream of Japanese aesthetics; encompassing a nuance of grotesque and infiltrating the surroundings

The Japanese word “kawaii” is currently a universal word. “Kawaii” refers to an aesthetic sense which is different from the words “cute” or “pretty”. This sense of aesthetic is not originally evolved from modern Japanese youth culture. Rather, it originated from traditional Japanese aesthetics.

“Kawaii” has two distinct features. First, as indicated by Mr. Inuhiko Yomota, a scholar of comparative literature, “kawaii” encompasses a nuance of grotesque. What is regarded as “kawaii” does not usually have a perfect shape. For instance, most people consider a baby “kawaii”. A baby is one of the typical objects which most people consider “kawaii”. However, if an adult maintained a body proportional to that of a baby, we would surely feel the person grotesque, attributing this feeling to his/her extremely disproportional body shape. It is the same as “kawaii” characters of manga (Japanese comic books) or anime (a style of animation originating in Japan). They have enormously large eyes, or their heads are oversized. They are considerably deformed. Aesthetic elements appreciated by the Japanese are opposite to those in western cultures, which stress balance and perfection. The most distinct feature of a Japanese aesthetic sense is the appreciation of something imperfect. For instance, in moon-viewing, the Japanese honor the moon partially covered with clouds more than the full moon shining brightly in a cloudless sky. The Japanese admire falling cherry blossom petals more than blooming cherry blossoms. Sado (Japanese-style tea ceremony) values tea bowls with irregularity. Bowls which are considered too beautiful may be deliberately cracked, and then repaired. The Japanese appreciate objects which are distorted and could be grotesque, unlike perfect things. This is a sense of kawaii, which is in conformity with traditional Japanese aesthetics.

The modern concept of “kawaii” can be traced back to the Heian period. In the Pillow Book (Makura no Soshi), Sei Shonagon used the term “utsukushi” to describe a girl wearing an adult-size article of clothing with her fingers slightly coming out of its sleeves. “Utsukushi” did not have the same meaning as that of the modern term “utsukushii”, which means beautiful, but instead referred to a sense similar to “kawaii”.

It was during the Meiji period that “utsukushi” was used as a Japanese translation for beautiful. Teenage girls adore clothes with extra-long sleeves and consider them “kawaii”. What they value is the same as what Sei Shonagon valued in the Heian period. Elements of the aesthetic appreciated by Sei Shonagon have been continuously passed down to the present age.

The other feature of “kawaii” is that it not only describes the state of an object but also infiltrates the surroundings. For instance, when high-school girls call out “kawaii” when looking at Disney characters at Disneyland, they are infiltrated by a sense of “kawaii”, becoming part of a “kawaii” atmosphere. Teenage girls adore clothes with extra-long sleeves. With saying that extra-long-sleeved clothes are “kawaii”, a sense of “kawaii” is growing inside a girl, and that sense is infiltrating her surroundings. Middle-aged men often frown at or feel discomfort with teenage girls frequently expressing their feelings with “kawaii”. It may be because they are not “kawaii” themselves or they are not allowed to be part of the “kawaii” atmosphere of girls.

This sense of alienation felt by middle-aged men is also one element of traditional Japanese aesthetics. For instance, in saying “mononoaware”, we express a sense of “aware” for ourselves, not for “mono”. “Wabi” or “sabi” describe the condition in which we are. In other words, “aware”, “wabi” and “sabi” explain not only the nature of “mono” or “koto” in front of us, but also an atmosphere encompassing “mono” or “koto”. On the contrary, beauty, supremacy or grace, which is main elements of aesthetics of western cultures, describes the nature of an object. When you say “beautiful” while looking at a rose, it is the rose, not you, that you consider beautiful. In contrast, Akiko Yosano wrote in the poem “Tangled Hair” (Midare Gami), “How beautiful they are / The people brushing past me / As I stroll through Gion / to the temple of Kiyomizu / on this cherry blossom moon-lit night.” She stated that when looking at cherry blossoms, she felt all people around her were beautiful. The Japanese perceive that the beauty of cherry blossoms embraces the surroundings. Mr. Shuzo Kuki, a philosopher, might not have heard of Yosano’s poem. However, he made the same remark as Yosano, that with Japanese cherry blossoms their surroundings look beautiful as well.

The Japanese aesthetic sense is characterized by its passiveness. People do not assimilate themselves into “aware”. Having a sense of “aware”, people themselves are infiltrated by “aware”. A girl, calling a cute Disney character “kawaii”, wears clothes emblazoned with a Disney character. People seeing the girl also consider her “kawaii”. Both are infiltrated by a sense of “kawaii” which is the traditional Japanese aesthetic. In the U.S., visitors to Disneyland may dress like its characters because they want to assimilate themselves into or take part in a joyful environment. Such feeling is not what the Japanese aesthetic appreciates.