Reconstructing tranquility: Recreating the beauty of Kan'ei culture
Reconstructing tranquility: Recreating the beauty of Kan'ei culture
After the splendor of the Azuchi-Momoyama period had passed,
Japanese culture once again showed its beauty in quietness and order.
This is the "Kan'ei culture" that flourished in the early Edo period.
Kan'ei Culture: The Echoes of the Momoyama Era and the Revival of Classics
The Kan'ei culture (1624-1644) inherited the echoes of the Momoyama culture,
A bifocal cultural structure was born from the intersection of the Kyoto Imperial Court, the townspeople, and the Edo samurai culture.
• Kyoto: Classical revival and elegant aesthetics centered around Emperor Gomizunoo
• Edo: Tokugawa Iemitsu establishes order and Confucianism
• Regional cities: A wave of culture spreading to Kanazawa, Kaga, and other areas
During this period, there was a quiet beauty of interplay, as if the moon and the surface of the water were reflecting each other.
Architecture and Gardens: Serene Composition
• Katsura Imperial Villa (Prince Tomohito): The pinnacle of sukiya-style architecture and strolling gardens. The spirit of tea ceremony sublimated into architecture.
• Shugakuin Imperial Villa (Emperor Gomizunoo): A magnificent garden with Mount Hiei as a backdrop, in harmony with nature.
• Nikko Toshogu Shrine (Tokugawa Iemitsu): Order and spirituality reside within the splendor of the carvings and colors.
These buildings are a form of beauty created in tranquility, and this is also the approach taken in creating spaces at WABISUKE.
Arts and Crafts: Poetry in the Margins
• Tawaraya Sotatsu: The contrast between gold leaf and white space creates a sense of movement and stillness, as seen in his Wind God and Thunder God Screen.
Hon'ami Koetsu: Combining classics and innovation in calligraphy, ceramics, and publishing
• Nonomura Ninsei: Founder of overglaze pottery. Rediscovering beauty in everyday life
These artists found beauty in the space between material and spiritual.
They are pioneers of the "poetic everyday life" depicted by WABISUKE.
Tea Ceremony and Philosophy: The Deepening of Wabi and the Beauty of Order
• Sen Sotan, Kanamori Sowa, and Kobori Enshu: A detailed examination of the formal beauty and spirituality of the tea ceremony
• Confucianism and Zen: The construction of spiritual order by Hayashi Razan, Takuan Soho, and others
The tea rooms of this era were philosophical spaces constructed in tranquility.
The WABISUKE brand space also has a "spiritual design" that lives on nearby.
Kan'ei Culture and Wabisuke: Aesthetics of Reconstruction
The Kan'ei culture was a culture that reconstructed the beauty of the past and passed it on to the future.
This overlaps with WABISUKE's goal of "an aesthetic sense that will resonate even 100 years from now."
• Wabi and Order
• Classic and innovative
• Space and Spirit
The beauty of this era is its strength in stillness.
And the depth of emotion that resides in the margins.