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Mottainai (もったいない or 勿体無い) is a Japanese word conveying a sense of regret concerning waste. The exclamation "Mottainai!" can translate as "What a waste!" It is an old Buddhist word that is also connected Shintoism. Recently, Japanese environmentalists have used the term to encourage people to "reduce, reuse and recycle", and Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai used the term as a slogan to promote environmental protection.

Usage and translation

Mottainai is a Japanese term conveying a sense of regret concerning waste. The expression "Mottainai!" can be uttered alone as an exclamation when something useful, such as food or time, is wasted, meaning roughly, "What a waste!" In addition to its primary sense of "wastefulness", the word is also used to mean "impious; irreverent" or "more than one deserves".

Mottainai in Japanese refers both to physical waste and to wasteful action. MacQuillan and Preston propose a more elaborate translation that conveys a sense of value and worthiness as "do not destroy (or lay waste to) that which is worthy".

History

Origins

Mottainai originated as a Buddhist term, though this fact is not common knowledge even in Japan. According to historian Yamaori Tetsuo, mottainai is "inseparable from Buddhist ideas about the transience and evanescence of life". The word later become connected to the Shinto concept that all objects have souls.

One of the earliest appearances of the word mottainai is in the book Genpei Jōsuiki (A Record of the Genpei War, ca. 1247). This early use of the word appears in a story about Yoshitsune. Yoshitsune dropped his bow into the sea, and a vassal used the word mottainai in admonishing Yoshitsune that he should have considered his own life more valuable than even a worthy bow.

Modern Japanese environmentalism

In November 2002, the English-language, Japan-based magazine Look Japan ran a cover story entitled "Restyling Japan: Revival of the 'Mottainai' Spirit", documenting the motivation amongst volunteers in a "toy hospital" in Japan to "develop in children the habit of looking after their possessions", the re-emergence of repair shops specializing in repairing household appliances or children's clothes, the recycling of PET bottles and other materials, the collection of waste edible oil, and more generally the efforts to stop the trend of throwing away everything that can no longer be used, i.e. the efforts of reviving "the spirit of mottainai". In that context, Hitoshi Chiba, the author, described mottainai as follows:

We often hear in Japan the expression 'mottainai', which loosely means 'wasteful' but in its full sense conveys a feeling of awe and appreciation for the gifts of nature or the sincere conduct of other people. There is a trait among Japanese people to try to use something for its entire effective life or continue to use it by repairing it. In this caring culture, people will endeavor to find new homes for possessions they no longer need. The 'mottainai' principle extends to the dinner table, where many consider it rude to leave even a single grain of rice in the bowl. The concern is that this traditional trait may be lost.

At the Opening Ceremony of the Science and Technology in Society Forum in 2005, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi stated: "In Japan, there has long been a spirit characterized by the word mottainai, which could be translated as 'don't waste what is valuable'."

Use by Wangari Maathai

At a session of the United Nations, Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai introduced the word mottainai as a slogan for environmental protection. According to Mizue Sasaki,

Dr. Maathai, brandishing a t-shirt emblazoned with the word MOTTAINAI, explained that the meaning of the term mottainai encompasses the four Rs of reduce, reuse, recycle and repair ... made the case that we should all use limited resources effectively and share them fairly if we are to avert wars arising from disputes over natural resources.

Maathai has worked to popularize the word mottainai in places outside Japan. At the 2009 United Nations Summit on Climate Change, she said, "Even at personal level, we can all reduce, re-use and recycle, what is embraced as Mottainai in Japan, a concept that also calls us to express gratitude, to respect and to avoid wastage."

See also

• Affluenza
• Anti-consumerism
• Bal tashchit
• Conspicuous consumption
• Freeganism
• Frugality
• Mottainai Grandma
• "Mottai Night Land", a Kyary Pamyu Pamyu song which has Mottai nai in the title
• Muda, mura and muri, three types of waste in lean manufacturing
• Planned obsolescence
• Simple living

References

1. Daijirin Japanese dictionary 2nd ed. (Japanese)
2. Masuda, K: Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary, page 1139. Kenkyusha Ltd., 1974
3. Alan G. MacQuillan; Ashley L. Preston (1998). Globally and Locally: Seeking a Middle Path to Sustainable Development. University Press of America. p. 157. ISBN 978-0761811268.
4. ^ Sato, Yuriko (2017). "Mottainai: a Japanese sense of anima mundi". Journal of Analytical Psychology. 62 (1): 147–154.
5. ^ Murko Siniawer, Eiko (2014). "'Affluence of the Heart': Wastefulness and the Search for Meaning in Millennial Japan". The Journal of Asian Studies. 73 (1). Cambridge University Press, Association for Asian Studies: 165–186. doi:10.1017/S0021911813001745. JSTOR 43553399.
6. Taylor, Kevin. "Material Flows: Human Flourishing And The Life Of Goods". A World In Discourse: Converging And Diverging Expressions Of Value (2015) pages 74-75.
7. ^ Chiba, Hitoshi (November 2002). "Restyling Japan: Revival of the "Mottainai" Spirit". Look Japan. Archived from the original on April 5, 2004. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
8. "Speeches and Statements by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi". japan.kantei.go.jp.
9. Sasaki, Mizue (7–9 November 2005). Perspectives of language: cultural differences and universality in Japanese (PDF). Paris: UNESCO. pp. 124–125. {{cite conference}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |booktitle= (help)
10. Iwatsuki, Kunio (2008). Sustainable Use of Biodiversity, with Reference to the Japanese Spirit of Worshipping Nature (in "Conserving Nature, A Japanese Perspective") (PDF). Biodiversity Network Japan. pp. 4–11. ISBN 978-4-9901743-1-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 9, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
11. "Statement by Prof. W. Maathai, Nobel Peace Laureate, on behalf of Civil Society" (PDF). United Nations. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-01. Retrieved 24 February 2018. Cited in Maruko Siniawer, 2014, p. 177.

External links

• Mottainai Campaign official site
• Mottainai Movement in Brazil

• Value (ethics)
• Social philosophy
• Japanese philosophy
• Japanese business terms
• Japanese words and phrases
• Resource economics
• Waste management concepts
• Words and phrases with no direct English translation