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Enso is a Japanese word
Japanese language

IPA: [n?iho?go] is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is related to the Ryukyuan languages....
 meaning "circle
Circle

A circle is a simple shape of Euclidean geometry consisting of those point in a plane which are the same distance from a given point called the center....
" and a concept strongly associated with Zen
Zen

Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism, referred to in Chinese as Ch?n. Ch?n is itself derived from the Sanskrit Dhyana, which means "meditation" ....
. Enso is one of the most common subjects of Japanese calligraphy
Japanese calligraphy

is a form of calligraphy, or artistic writing, used for writing the Japanese language called Nihongo . For a long time, the most esteemed calligrapher in Japan had been Wang Xizhi, a Chinese calligrapher in the 4th century but after the invention of Hiragana and Katakana, the Japanese unique syllabaries, the distinctive Japanese writing system de...
 even though it is a symbol and not a character. It symbolizes enlightenment
Enlightenment (concept)

Enlightenment broadly means wisdom or understanding enabling clarity of perception. However, the English language word covers two concepts which can be quite distinct: religion or spiritual enlightenment and secular or intellectual enlightenment....
, strength, elegance, the universe, and the void
Mu (negative)

Mu , and Wu is a word which has been roughly translated as "no", "none", "without", "no meaning". While used in Japanese and Chinese mainly as a prefix to imply the absence of something , in English it is more famously used as a response to certain koans and other questions in Zen Buddhism, intending to indicate that the question i...
; it can also symbolize the Japanese aesthetic
Japanese aesthetics

The explicit formulation of an aesthetics in the Western sense only started in Japan a little over two hundred years ago. But, by the Japanese aesthetic we tend to mean, not this modern study, but a set of ancient ideals that include wabi , sabi , and y?gen ....
 itself.






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Enso
Enso is a Japanese word
Japanese language

IPA: [n?iho?go] is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is related to the Ryukyuan languages....
 meaning "circle
Circle

A circle is a simple shape of Euclidean geometry consisting of those point in a plane which are the same distance from a given point called the center....
" and a concept strongly associated with Zen
Zen

Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism, referred to in Chinese as Ch?n. Ch?n is itself derived from the Sanskrit Dhyana, which means "meditation" ....
. Enso is one of the most common subjects of Japanese calligraphy
Japanese calligraphy

is a form of calligraphy, or artistic writing, used for writing the Japanese language called Nihongo . For a long time, the most esteemed calligrapher in Japan had been Wang Xizhi, a Chinese calligrapher in the 4th century but after the invention of Hiragana and Katakana, the Japanese unique syllabaries, the distinctive Japanese writing system de...
 even though it is a symbol and not a character. It symbolizes enlightenment
Enlightenment (concept)

Enlightenment broadly means wisdom or understanding enabling clarity of perception. However, the English language word covers two concepts which can be quite distinct: religion or spiritual enlightenment and secular or intellectual enlightenment....
, strength, elegance, the universe, and the void
Mu (negative)

Mu , and Wu is a word which has been roughly translated as "no", "none", "without", "no meaning". While used in Japanese and Chinese mainly as a prefix to imply the absence of something , in English it is more famously used as a response to certain koans and other questions in Zen Buddhism, intending to indicate that the question i...
; it can also symbolize the Japanese aesthetic
Japanese aesthetics

The explicit formulation of an aesthetics in the Western sense only started in Japan a little over two hundred years ago. But, by the Japanese aesthetic we tend to mean, not this modern study, but a set of ancient ideals that include wabi , sabi , and y?gen ....
 itself. As an "expression of the moment" it is often considered a form of expressionist art
Expressionism

Expressionism is the tendency of an artist to distort reality for an emotional effect; it is a subjective art form. Expressionism is exhibited in many art forms, including painting, literature, theatre, film, Expressionist architecture and Expressionism ....
.

In Zen Buddhist
Zen

Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism, referred to in Chinese as Ch?n. Ch?n is itself derived from the Sanskrit Dhyana, which means "meditation" ....
 painting, enso symbolizes a moment when the mind is free to simply let the body/spirit create. The brushed ink of the circle is usually done on silk or rice paper in one movement (but the great Bankei used two strokes sometimes) and there is no possibility of modification: it shows the expressive movement of the spirit at that time. Zen Buddhists "believe that the character of the artist is fully exposed in how she or he draws an enso. Only a person who is mentally and spiritually complete can draw a true enso. Some artists will practice drawing an enso daily, as a kind of spiritual exercise
Spiritual Exercises

Spiritual exercises can refer to:* Any spiritual practice dedicated towards increasing one's personal spirituality* Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, a book of spiritual practices of the Roman Catholic Jesuit order...
." [Seo]

Some artists paint enso with an opening in the circle, while others complete the circle. For the former, the opening may express various ideas, for example that the enso is not separate, but is part of something greater, or that imperfection is an essential and inherent aspect of existence (see also the idea of broken symmetry
Broken symmetry

Broken symmetry is a concept, developed by Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang, used in mathematics and physics when an object breaks either rotational symmetry or translational symmetry....
). The principle of controlling the balance of composition through asymmetry and irregularity is an important aspect of the Japanese aesthetic: Fukinsei
Japanese aesthetics

The explicit formulation of an aesthetics in the Western sense only started in Japan a little over two hundred years ago. But, by the Japanese aesthetic we tend to mean, not this modern study, but a set of ancient ideals that include wabi , sabi , and y?gen ....
, the denial of perfection.

The enso is also a sacred
SACRED

SACRED was a Cubesat built by the Student Satellite Program of the University of Arizona. It was the product of the work of about 50 students, ranging from college freshmen to Ph....
 symbol in the Zen school of Buddhism
Buddhism in Japan

The history of Buddhism in Japan can be roughly divided into three periods, namely the Nara period , the Heian Period and the post-Heian period ....
, and is often used by Zen masters as a form of signature in their religious artwork. For more on the philosophy behind this see Hitsuzendo
Hitsuzendo

, or the "Art of the Brush", is a method of achieving Samadhi . Hitsuzendo refers specifically to a school of Japanese Zen calligraphy to which the rating system of modern calligraphy is foreign....
, the Way of the Brush or Zen Calligraphy.

The enso has also been co-opted as an advertising symbol by various companies, notably, Lucent. No longer used since the Alcatel merger, the logo was often jokingly referred to as the "coffee cup ring."

See also

  • Japanese aesthetics
    Japanese aesthetics

    The explicit formulation of an aesthetics in the Western sense only started in Japan a little over two hundred years ago. But, by the Japanese aesthetic we tend to mean, not this modern study, but a set of ancient ideals that include wabi , sabi , and y?gen ....