is a Japanese reading of a
Sino-Japanese character, which is often used to refer to what is claimed to be a specific
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
ese concept of
negative space
Negative space, in art, is the empty space around and between the subject(s) of an image. Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape, and s ...
. In modern interpretations of traditional
Japanese arts and culture, is taken to refer to an artistic interpretation of an empty space, often holding as much importance as the rest of an artwork and focusing the viewer on the intention of negative space in an art piece. The concept of space as a positive entity as opposed the absence of such a principle in a correlated 'Japanese' notion of space. Though commonly used to refer to literal, visible negative space, may also refer to the perception of a space, gap or interval, without necessarily requiring a physical compositional element. This results in the concept of being less reliant on the existence of a gap, and more closely related to the perception of a gap. The existence of in an artwork has been interpreted as "an emptiness full of possibilities, like a promise yet to be fulfilled", and has been described as "the silence between the notes which make the music".
Etymology
Among
English loanwords of Japanese origin, both (interval, space) and (unit of architectural measurement) are written with the Chinese character derived from the character ("door") and ("sun").
Originally, the character was written with the
radical
Radical may refer to:
Politics and ideology Politics
* Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change
*Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe an ...
for "moon" () instead of the character for "sun" (), and, in this form (, ), depicted, according to
Bernhard Karlgren
Klas Bernhard Johannes Karlgren (; 15 October 1889 – 20 October 1978) was a Swedish sinologist and linguist who pioneered the study of Chinese historical phonology using modern comparative methods. In the early 20th century, Karlgren conducte ...
, "A door through the crevice of which the moonshine peeps in".
The character can be read differently when emphasis is put on the connection between things (), the distance between things (), or the distance between people ().
Usage in Japan
appears in many areas of Japanese arts and culture. For example, the alcove in a traditional Japanese room is a space or a stage used to display important objects, such as a painting scroll, an important art object, or a flower arrangement. The concept is also associated with or the Japanese spatial concept of "inwardness".
In , the space around the flowers is considered to be equally as important as the flowers and plants themselves, with harmony and balance between the two considered the ideal.
In
karate
(; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fuj ...
, refers to the distance between two fighters. Knowing the safe distance between oneself and an opponent based on their reach is considered "understanding ".
Usage in the West
In his 2001 book, ''The Art of Looking Sideways'', graphic designer
Alan Fletcher discussed the importance that perceived negative space could hold in art:
Author
Derrick de Kerckhove described as "the complex network of relationships between people and objects".
See also
*
*
*, a term in Chinese philosophy
*
Negative space
Negative space, in art, is the empty space around and between the subject(s) of an image. Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape, and su ...
*
Yin and yang
Yin and yang ( and ) is a Chinese philosophy, Chinese philosophical concept that describes opposite but interconnected forces. In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organized into the c ...
*
Liminality
In anthropology, liminality () is the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs in the middle stage of a rite of passage, when participants no longer hold their pre-ritual status but have not yet begun the transition to the status they w ...
*
The Void (philosophy)
The Void is the philosophical concept of nothingness manifested. The notion of the Void is relevant to several realms of metaphysics. The Void is also prevalent in numerous facets of psychology, notably logotherapy.
The manifestation of nothingnes ...
References
External links
"Negative Space" - discussing photographic techniques
{{Japanese social terms
Japanese words and phrases
Zen
Composition in visual art
Japanese aesthetics