ruins are beautiful

I have read that it is difficult to translate the phrase "Mono no aware" into English. A wiki says it is "the awareness of the transience of things". this blog says it is the "aesthetic empathy of things and feelings". This site says it is "a sort of sadness". Yes they are all correct, but I feel they are not enough too. We love cherry blossom so much because they are fugacious; they die just a few days after they bloom. I think the Japanese see the beauty in something dying.

Today I found this site "Gunkanjima". To be honest with you, I heard the name before but did not know much about it. Here is the English sit;, they say Gunkanjima was only small reef, but it was developed for mining coal since 1870's. Its population was 5,000 at peak, and they built many high apartments. Thus it looked like a warship, so we call this island "Gunkanjima" (warship island). However it was closed in 1974, and it has turned into ruins now.

Actually, the density of its population was higher than Tokyo at its peak. There were many high buildings and apartments, it was a kind of futuristic city in the early 20th century. Look at the gallery. It would be okay if I say "this is the movie set of Matrix".

Why do ruins have some charm? I think it would be related to the feeling of "mono no aware". There is no life, guilt, desire, joy, happiness, pain, or anything any more. Everything is over and just wind-blown. When you experience the feeling of beauty on the site, it is the feeling of Mono no Aware.

Comments

[Cath Lee]

Maybe it's mysterious? I keep wondering about the people who used to live there. Where are they now? Will they remember this island? The buildings are abandoned and silent now... but they have witnessed many things, many activities, tears and laughter... and they have no mouths to speak.

[Claire]

This reminds me of the island in Murakami Ryu's book "Coin Locker Babies"...

[Mari]

Hi There
Ah I like to see ancients of course. My dream is visiting all the world heritage. But the different points are ancients are cared and loved by people. But nobody cares ruins. :-)

[Redruin]

Gunkanjima is interesting indeed, I posted links to galleries of it a few months ago here. And I recently discovered a huge jackpot of other gorgeous ruins in Japan which I posted here.

[Mehyar]

mono-no-aware perhaps came from the frequent natural catastrophes that fell on the islands of Japan, and the long years of civil war...that made people more aware of the inevitable.

[Martin]

Wonderful, scary... I have a feeling this is what a large part of our world might look like, in the future. Thanks for the warning. More photos here:

http://www.drawnbyreality.info/hashima2.html

[Stig Inge]

Here is a site with breathtakingly beautiful photography of ghost buildings in the US:

http://www.opacity.us/

His images of decay and desolation are pure poetry.

[Claytonain]

wow I want to go. Is it allowed?

[Kaishin]

here is a place I would really want to visit in Japan!

[Bruce]

Americans call this type of place a "ghost town." Such a place contains memories of lives forgotten. Sometimes, the presence of old buildings and the belongings of missing inhabitants is so strong the echos of the past become ghosts lingering among their remains.

[Randy]

This is the best post I have ever read.

Thank you

[Marco Bresciani]

We have a lots of ancients and ruins here in Italy... you should take a look at them (search for "rovine italia" with google images: it means "ruins italy")! :-) And they are very ancient too!