<P> Mono no aware (物 の 哀れ), literally "the pathos of things", and also translated as "an empathy toward things", or "a sensitivity to ephemera", is a Japanese term for the awareness of impermanence (無常, mujō), or transience of things, and both a transient gentle sadness (or wistfulness) at their passing as well as a longer, deeper gentle sadness about this state being the reality of life . </P> <P> The term comes from Heian period literature, but was picked up and used by 18th century Edo period Japanese cultural scholar Motoori Norinaga in his literary criticism of The Tale of Genji, and later to other seminal Japanese works including the Man'yōshū . It became central to his philosophy of literature and eventually to Japanese cultural tradition . </P>

What does mono no aware mean in japanese