Shibui. Japońska sztuka znajdowania piękna w upływie czasu

by Sanae Ishida, Dorota Przygucka (Translator)

Shibui to sztuka doceniania naturalnych zmian przychodzących z czasem. Odnajdywanie urody życia w autentyczności zamiast sztucznego podtrzymywania młodości. Rzeczownik shibumi/shibusa opisuje charakterystyczny, cierpki i nieco gorzki posmak niedojrzałego owocu. W miarę jak owoc dojrzewa, gorycz słabnie i w jej miejsce pojawia się słodycz.

Dr Soetsu Yanagi wyróżnił siedem elementów shibusa: prostotę, niejednoznaczność, naturalność, skromność, codzienność, niedoskonałość oraz ciszę. To słowo oznacza uważność na tu i teraz, a z drugiej strony oddaje cechę czegoś wysłużonego, a zarazem ponadczasowego.

Shibui często odnosi się do rzeczy namacalnych, takich jak ludzie, rękodzieło, sztuka, ubiór czy architektura, lecz jest także używane do opisywania nieuchwytnej jakości atmosfery lub stylu życia. Piękno shibui wykracza poza świat materialny. Można je znaleźć w sposobie, w jaki dziadkowie mrużą oczy z radości, w nieskrępowanym, głośnym śmiechu kobiet w pewnym wieku, w łagodnych dłoniach ogrodnika, naznaczonych latami pracy na świeżym powietrzu.

Shibui podpowiada, że prawdziwe piękno wyłania się z wnętrza, ujawniane i wzmacniane przez mijający czas.

Przyjrzyj się starzeniu shibui z różnych perspektyw: zdrowia, urody, celu, bogactwa, więzi i, na koniec, relacji ze śmiertelnością. W każdej z sześciu części książki znajdziesz, opatrzone subtelnymi akwarelami, eseje pozwalające powitać ten etap życia. Zamiast walczyć z upływem czasu, odkryj, jak docenić jego zalety: pogłębiającą się mądrość, wyzwolenie od oczekiwań innych ludzi oraz subtelny urok, który szlachetnieje wraz z dojrzałością.

Ta książka to podróż w poszukiwaniu radości, mądrości, celebracji – i tak, również piękna – w starzeniu się. Jednocześnie autorka wprowadza czytelnika w elementy japońskiej kultury, sztuki i filozofii życia – poznamy m.in. tajniki japońskiego rękodzieła, ceremonii herbaty, rytuałów pożegnalnych, symbole obfitości i niezwykłe rośliny. Lektura tej książki przynosi nie tylko wartościową wiedzę, lecz także jest wspaniałym estetycznym doświadczeniem.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Audiobook, Aging, Essays, Lifestyle, Japan

162 pages, Hardcover

First published November 4, 2025

About the author

Sanae Ishida writes, draws, sews, and takes photos almost every day. In addition to writing and illustrating books for kids, she's written several books on sewing. She lives with her husband and daughter in Seattle, Washington. It's possible that she and her daughter have too many handmade clothes.

Reviews

[Bella Azam]

Shibui by Sanae Ishida compiled personal essays and reflections on on self, inner beauty & appreciation of imperfection and ageing. With beautiful watercolors illustration, the author incorporates anecdotes of her personal life & how her roots as Japanese American shaped her views on the beauty of ageing. Shibui, its a concept of learning to appreciate beauty as it grew over time. When we think about getting older, we think about our health declining, our appearance wrinkled and greying, the loss of youthfulness and the fear of death as we grew in age. But in this book, it let us ponder upon the theme of everydayness, the act of be in the present, to fully embraced our ageing as something that evolved in time, maturing to become maybe the best of ourselves.

The concept is simple yet I was reminded by how much we chase for perfection and wanting more when we could look around us and see the things we surround ourselves and how contented we can be by letting us feel what we have is more than enough. I love the illustrations scattered thoughout the book accompanied each chapter, giving the book a nice outlook. I also like how the author talked about the Japanese culture on which she relates to and incorporates into her daily life while also gave us an in depth understanding of the concept.

Thank you to TImes Reads for the review copy

[Sarah]

Short, personal essays on themes related to aging, blended with wisdom from Japanese culture. Beautiful, watercolour illustrations.

Mokuteki - doing small daily practices with deliberate, intentional and unconditional love.

Tantanto - going with the flow in a light, detached manner. It's the opposite of striving, but it's not giving up either. The Buddhist tenet of the middle way comes close to the definition. Sometimes the most beautiful and meaningful moments come not from pushing harder, but from allowing things to unfold naturally.

[Sue Oshin]

Sanae Ishida is a mix writer from Japanese-American. Shibui is a compilation of her essay through beauty in aging, wisdom and Japanese culture and the term of beauty.

When i read Shibui, now i know what is mean by kintsugi, sashiko, tsugihagi etc. Before this, i heard this term when im translating a novel and didnt care about it all. So i just search this term to translate in Malay if there is choice of words to be replace. But, this term is remain in Japan so i stick to the wirda without made any changing.

Many of us thought beauty is an outer beauty that related to the physical of someone. For example, she is 50 years old, but she look young like 30’s something. Sanae Ishida perspective in beauty is really different and open-mind. Beauty is not about age and physical but including inner-beauty. This is the real aspect of beauty in life.

While others keep their health to maintain beautiful such as do exercise, diet and skin care routine… there is one thing that everyone should know. When ourselves do a good thing to others, animal and surrounding us, the inner beauty will spark and it is easy to read on our faces.

So much thing i want to describe here because this book is a worth reading!

[KarolBooks]

Nawet ciekawa 4⭐

[Natalie Park]

Nice overview of many Japanese philosophies of how to live a good life.

[Keshia]

I loved the art as well as the words in this book

[Stacy Jensen]

I loved this book! It makes me love Japan even more! They have a description for every little nuance that occurs in your life and have created the perfect vocabulary for it. It's the kind of book you can pick up, read a chapter and put down for a while. It's a nice bit of prose to dip into from time to time. Beautiful illustrations as well. You get just a nice, overall peaceful feeling reading this little gem.

[Jess Hicks]

Lovely little book with a sweet message about finding the joy in aging. Couldn’t have run across it at a better time as I’m stuck on the couch resting a broken ankle and watching the leaves fall outside my window. Is there beauty here, too?

[CatReader]

Sanae Ishida is a Japanese-American writer and illustrator. Her 2025 book Shibui is a very brief (160 page/<2 hour audiobook) illustrated essay collection on Japanese wisdom about aging, with Ishida's own reflections as she's reached midlife. I listened to the audiobook, though I found out when writing this review that the author illustrated the physical edition with her watercolor art, which I'm sure would have been the preferable medium for this book. The essays were nice albeit brief; the author's insights were earned and clearly well-thought-out albeit not novel.

My statistics:
Book 355 for 2025
Book 2281 cumulatively

[Monika]

Po zapowiedzi (i wydawcy) liczyłam na bardziej (nawet
i popularno-) naukowe podejście do tematu, a dostałam to, czego zwykle spodziewam się po tego typu pozycjach (i dlatego po nie raczej nie sięgam), czyli cozy bajanie z anegdotami, które nic nowego w moje życie nie wnosi. Oczywiście hołduję głównej myśli przewodniej, że starzenie się to czas czerpania z przeżytych doświadczeń i dewizy „nic nie muszę, wszystko mogę”, ale, no właśnie, JUŻ TO WIEM. Wynotowałam kilka japońskich terminów, pooglądałam obrazki i rozczarowałam się na maksa 🙁

[Katarzyna]

Bardzo podobała mi się forma! Krótkie treści, piękne akwarelowe ilustracje, różnorodność tekstów.
Była to na pewno inspirująca lektura.
A równocześnie bardzo prosta i - dla mnie - oczywista w przekazie.
Może jest na inny moment w życiu, a może po prostu dla kogoś innego?

[alstroemeriaswan]

A meaningful short-personal essay about aging, reflections on self and the beauty of imperfections.

[Mary Lee]

Lovely, inspirational. Worthy of frequent rereads. (It’s short, with a small trim size, and generously illustrated.)

[Anka]

lets go, i want to became shibui

[S]

The illustrations are beautiful. This book gives an insight into Japanese culture and their perspective on aging and a lot of this is based on shintoism and Buddhism. The author could not clearly explain what is shibui in the beginning but the quote she had included in the book explained it succinctly - beauty that is revealed with time.

However, in some parts of the book, I thought the author was stretching too far to connect the unrelated story to the main idea they wanted to state in the chapter.

Also, one has to be aware that because one can afford to slow down and do things leisurely in old age is a privilege that one cannot always have in their younger years. A lot of working people, simply do not have the time in every single situation to move around leisurely like old and retired people. Can they make time to be mindful? Yes. But, people just cannot do it 24/7.

[Susan Muldowney]

I love everything about this book. The size is perfect - it fits comfortably in your hands and is substantial without being heavy. Sanae's beautiful watercolors throughout would be reason enough to buy it, but her message on aging will make you think and touch your heart. The book is divided into six chapters, and each of those are made up of smaller bites of wisdom. Perfect to read, stop and digest before going on. I've read it twice and know I won't stop there. A thoughtful gift for anyone of a certain age.

[ruby gloom]

this was truly so beautiful to read. like not just the artwork but the philosophies and japanese tales were so great to learn about. as someone who really dislikes the trend of "being a twentysomething teenage girl" and recently i've been seeing so many posts like "you're not 23 anymore things, being 25 is the new 30", this book was a comfort. like yes change is scary, and growing up and growing older can be nerve wracking, but it doesn't have to be this unspeakable thing that we ignore and never talk about. i also recommend reading the physical copy because again, the artwork is stunning.

[d.bookchaser]

I had high expectations for this book, especially since it’s the first one I’ve read on aging. While I was able to notate a lot of meaningful points, it didn’t resonate with me as much as I hoped.

Reading back through my notes, I was reminded of the wisdom it offers—but that also means I wasn’t able to retain it during the actual reading. It left me wanting more depth and connection in the moment.

Overall, it’s insightful, but for me, the impact was stronger in reflection than in the experience of reading itself.

[Chloe Kelly Wee Chua]

I was horribly frustrated at the shallowness of this all before finding out this was just meant to be a picture book, nothing more, nothing less. The topic itself is interesting, and I like how simple and calming the writing is, so I hope Ishida considers writing longer essays on it soon, longer memoirs, longer thoughts. (Something like an expanded version of this picture book might be nice, is what I'm trying to say.) The illustrations were nice.

[Emma Mullane]

I listened to the audiobook which was good, but I think this style of book which contains short chapters should be one where you have the physical book and pick it up every now and again when you want to reflect.

[M. Raymond]

Beauty That Comes with The Passage of Time

Shibui by Sanae Ishida is literally a small treasure of a book. It is a petite 5x7-inch hardback, with a beautiful watercolour of persimmons on the cover. The title (English and Japanese), the authors name, and the painting are embossed or slightly raised, so that when you hold it in your hands, your fingers get a soothing tactile experience.

I received a review copy from the publisher in plain brown mailing packaging. When I opened it, looked at it and touched it, I thought, how fitting.

Shibui.

I learned this word in my Japanese class years ago and was struck by its beauty and truth. That the subtle changes that happen to things over time gives them a patina that often invites us to look closer.

The author invites us to view our aging selves from this same perspective. To look at ourself and see any lines as the beauty we have earned the privilege of wearing.

We all know that our modern western culture prizes the beauty of youth. It aggressively markets this to all of us, but most especially towards women. We are taught to avoid “looking our age” at all costs. Now even teenage girls are buying wrinkle creams.

Dolls come with pretend makeup and creams, even dolls that are supposed to depict children!

I am going to invite everyone reading this review to pause a moment.

Think about how you might have been a bit harsh on yourself for not remaining in a time capsule that kept you perpetually at age 25.

This book is like a lovingly made tonic to all the nonsense we have been sold about aging.

The essays blend a mix of Japanese concepts about the beauty in aging along with the author’s own life experiences. The stories and exercises are meant to help us look at our changing body with respect.

And throughout the book, beautiful, gentle watercolour paintings make the experience of reading like a restful journey. A spa in your hands, so to speak.

Although it is probably a “No brainer” to suggest this book would be a welcome gift to anyone who has started to grow more than a few grey hairs, I actually feel it could greatly benefit the younger generations.

I see myself giving this book to people in their 30s. So that before those grey hairs come, they hopefully will have developed an appreciation for the changes of life. To look at themselves and others with appreciative eyes.

Through the lens of SHIBUI.

[Lyana A.]

I am in quiet awe of this book especially the illustrations, all lovingly created by the author herself. They feel intimate and deliberate, mirroring the very philosophy the book explores.

Shibui is a Japanese concept that invites us to appreciate the natural changes that come with time, to find beauty in authenticity rather than artificial preservation. At its heart, it asks us to accept aging not as loss, but as something inevitable and deeply beautiful.

Shibui is a word rooted in acceptance. It is paradoxical, non-dualistic, and richly layered, with no direct equivalent in English. Throughout the book, Ishida explores Shibui through multiple lenses: beauty, health, purpose, wealth, connection, and ultimately, our relationship with mortality itself.

I particularly enjoyed the author’s personal essays. They read like gentle reflections and reminders to value maturity, simplicity, and subtlety in a world that often glorifies excess and youth. Familiar Japanese philosophies appear throughout, such as wabi-sabi (finding beauty in imperfection) and hara hachi bu (eating until you are just no longer hungry), and I appreciated how Ishida thoughtfully weaves them back into the broader idea of Shibui.

One of my favourite reflections is on the concept of tantanto, moving through life lightly and with detachment, going with the flow without force. It is the opposite of relentless striving, yet it is not resignation either. There is something deeply comforting in that balance.

I’ll end this review with a quote from the author that beautifully encapsulates the spirit of the book:

“Let us love heartily, live gently, and release gracefully all that’s not meant for us—let’s savor all the mellowed sweetness of aging.”

[Stronisko]

Dziś chcemy Wam pokazać książkę, o której powinno być zdecydowanie głośniej! 🔥 A mowa tutaj o tytule “Shibui. Japońska sztuka znajdowania piękna w upływie czasu” autorstwa Sanae Ishida. 🇯🇵 Co więcej, sesję do tej książki wykonaliśmy na terenie Zamku Himeji, jednym z najsłynniejszych w Japonii, nie mogło być więc lepszej scenerii! ❤️

W dzisiejszym świecie, w którym reklamy, piękni ludzie i idealne zdjęcia otaczają nas z każdej strony, może być nam ciężko odnaleźć się i pogodzić z tym, w jakim miejscu w życiu jesteśmy. Ciągle dąży się do niedoścignionych, podrasowanych wzorców, które w żadnym wypadku nie mają przełożenia w rzeczywistości. “Shibui” to książka, która w tym pędzie zwraca nam uwagę, że wcale nie musimy od siebie wymagać, a powinniśmy zaakceptować upływający czas i to, jak zmienia się zarówno nasze ciało, jak i nasze wnętrze. 🥰

Shibui to również sztuka dostrzegania piękna w codzienności. Nie musimy wyznaczać sobie trudnych do spełnienia celów, lepiej spojrzeć na tu i teraz, i zamiast próby dotarcia na szczyt góry, przejdźmy się 20 minut po parku. Nie musimy też zmuszać się do konkretnych sytuacji czy relacji, wystarczy, że je zaakceptujemy. 😊

Warto także pamiętać, że starzenie się nie oznacza bycia ,,mądrzejszym” czy ,,bardziej doświadczonym”. Na każdym etapie życia możemy gromadzić obserwacje i doświadczenia i czerpać z nich jak najwięcej, uczyć się i iść dalej przez życie. Pamiętajmy o swoich mocnych stronach, ale i słabościach, które też czynią nas tym, kim jesteśmy. 🫶

“Shibui” to książka, która pozwala spojrzeć na wiele aspektów codzienności z zupełnie innej strony. A do tego napisana przez Sanae Ishida, a to przecież Japończycy znają się na tym najlepiej! 🇯🇵

[Dominique]

I received this lovely book for Christmas from a dear friend and love the message of finding beauty in aging. Being 59 I have definitely entered the aging chapter and find that the messages of our world, and specifically our western culture, are focused on youth being the ultimate goal. Which is funny when we are all aging ... even the young. Everything thrown at us has a message that aging is bad - anti-aging is the way to go (and also a great way to spend money and support this billion dollar industry through products and procedures).

The book is beautiful and so calming as the author adeptly weaves in her Japanese heritage with the fact that she has been raised in America. I didn't walk away with any huge "ah-ha's", other than to realize that for the most part my attitude toward aging is fairly healthy. Don't get me wrong - I have my days and struggles. But the struggles are more a residue left form my earlier years and youth when I was very invested in the outer shell being everything - the most important thing. I wholeheartedly believe that is false, AND sometimes find it lonely standing in that truth when everything around me says that the definition of femininity is the spend every available resource in pursuit of my appearance. Let that sink in. Every, Available. Resource.

I found the book as a gentle recentering, although true to what makes us purchase books, it felt like you could turn the book into a checklist. Very American.

I am opting not to do that. I enjoyed it and am setting it out in our little free library so it can bless someone else it whatever way they need. It spoke to me in the language I needed to hear.

[Barbara]

Shibui: The Japanese Art of Finding Beauty in Aging by Sanae Ishida is one of the books that I will keep in my collection forever. First, it's just a lovely book. The cover is beautifully designed and embossed. High quality paper is used for the pages. Ishida has done the simple watercolor illustrations that match the text perfectly. In the book, Ishida defines shibui as "...having an understated, subtle, and unobtrusive beauty that emerges with time". There are six sections, divided into short chapters, each illustrating shibui in some way. The six sections are: Beauty, Health, Purpose, Wealth, Connection and The Ending. Japanese words and their characters are included throughout the book. Both the writing and illustrations are simple and meaningful. Reading the book was a pleasure. Shibui: The Japanese Art of Finding Beauty in Aging is definitely a beautiful read.

[365_ksiazek]

Wszyscy umrzemy. I to jest jedyny pewnik.
Nie wszyscy się zestarzejemy, ale wszyscy ulegamy czasowi. I to na 100%. Wszystko było jasne, w momencie, gdy przyszliśmy na świat. Wtedy nasz czas zaczął płynąć.

Możemy się tym zadręczać. Oklepywać, oklejać, podciągać, ale tak naprawdę to nic nie da. Czas i tak upływnie. Zamiast tego, wypełnij go celebracją życia. Zacznij tu, z tym co masz i…
Przeczytaj „Shibui”. To akceptacja zmian i sztuka dostrzegania piękna w upływie czasu.
To ulubiony znoszony sweter, zmarszczki od śmiechu...
Ta książka to plaster na nasze przebodźcowane życie. Absolutnie kojąca lektura, którą warto mieć.

Książeczka bardzo ładnie wydana. Idealna na prezent. Również dla samej i samego siebie.
Współpraca reklamowa PWN.

[Terresa Wellborn]

Shibui acrostic:
S: simple
H: harmonious
I: imperfect
B: beautiful
U: unpretentious
I: impermanent

It's hard not to enjoy a book like this one, quietly celebrating the arrival of middle age and the wisdom gained over a lifetime. The author brings our attention to aging more gently, reminding us we gain not only breadth but depth over time and experience.

Shibui (or Shibusa) refers to a kind of beauty that only time can reveal; it's untranslatable in English. It connects the acrid unripeness of youth and the sweetness & pleasure of maturity, and was popularized in the 1930's by Dr. Soitsu Unage, a Japanese philosopher, potter, and founder of the Ming folk art movement.

Excellent suggestions on mindfulness, universal connectedness & serendipity, the middle way, joy in the everyday, the benefits of restraint, wanting less, in observing more and doing less, finding meaning in the quiet moments that often go unnoticed, to discover the freedom to be ourselves without apology or expectation.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Quotes:
There is no there there.

Life is a balance of holding on and letting go. -Rumi

[Julie Capell]

Lovely book, from the hand-painted illustrations to the beautiful philosophies related to the aging process. I love the idea of appreciating the natural changes that happen as we age. As the author states, "We are meant to age" and this book looks at that concept from multiple angles: how we accept our aging bodies, how we learn to let go of comparisons, how we relax into supporting roles as we age, and finding meaning in everyday activities.

This book would make a great gift for anyone of a philosophical or meditative mindset.

[Kimball]

This is a quick read. I liked the idea and the subtitle. The author’s writing style felt a little disjointed. She shares what the meaning of a few Japanese words and concepts are and then suddenly at the end of the book. I think I was hoping she would link the ideas together a little more cohesively, but I did like some of the ideas she shares and it made me think about my own aging (hopefully gracefully).

[Jeannie]

⭐️ 3.75
A sweet little coffee table-esque book about Japanese insights on aging. Loved the message.
"Rather than focusing solely on reaching an arbitrary finish line, may we find beauty and meaning in each circuit."