IL PRINCIPIO ESTETICO DEL FŪRYŪ NEL PENSIERO GIAPPONESE
DALLA CORTE HEIAN AGLI INTELLETTUALI DEL XX SECOLO

Bruno Guerini

Amongst the typical concepts of Japanese aesthetics, one that stands out is the principle of fūryū, which had a wide range of implications ever since the original fengliu in the classical Chinese language, spanning from love to art and the appreciation of nature. However, it underwent in Japan a number of transformations: starting from Daoist iconography of continental origin, during the Heian period (794-1185) fūryū meant at first a sophisticated refinement, and then a lavish and gawdy kind of beauty. Moreover, with the introduction of Zen Buddhism, it became entwined with the aesthetics of the tea ceremony, subsequently becoming synonymous with elegance especially between the 17th and 19th centuries. This paper aims to analyze such semantic changes within the term fūryū itself and the extent to which such concept has permeated the Japanese cultural tradition through the study of several significant critical essays and literary works, ranging from medieval theatre to the writings of modern and contemporary authors such as Kōda Rohan (1867-1947), one of the main writers of the Meiji period (1868-1912), during which time Japan opened up to Western suggestions and the first words to translate the European concepts of “art”, “aesthetics” and “philosophy” were created, and Kawabata Yasunari (1899-1972), the first Japanese novelist to earn the Nobel Prize in Literature.