Yugen is an awareness of the Universe that triggers a response that is too deep and powerful for words. The exact translation of the word is said to depend on the context. In Chinese philosophical texts, the term was taken from, yu, which meant “dim”, “deep” or “mysterious” and gen, which meant “profundity” or “sublimity”. In the criticism of Japanese waka poetry, yugen was used to describe the subtle profundity of things that are only vaguely suggested by the poems.
Gunter Nitschke, wrote in his book titled Japanese Gardens, “Yugen suggests an elegant beauty concealing profound depth, a beauty which lies within rather than without, and as such is tinged with the fundamental sadness of all evanescent life.”
Perhaps the most well known description of yugen was given by Motokiyo Zeami, a Japanese playwright from the 14th c. He explained it as: “To watch the sun sink behind a flower clad hill. To wander on in a huge forest without thought of return. To stand upon the shore and gaze after a boat that disappears behind distant islands. To contemplate the flight of wild geese seen and lost among the clouds.”
