Ma (negative space)

In modern interpretations of traditional Japanese arts and culture, {{transliteration|ja|ma}} is an artistic interpretation of an empty space, often holding as much importance as the rest of an artwork and focusing the viewer on the intention of negative space in an art piece. The concept of space as a positive entity is opposed to the absence of such a principle in a correlated "Japanese" notion of space.

Though commonly used to refer to literal, visible negative space, {{transliteration|ja|ma}} may also refer to the perception of a space, gap or interval, without necessarily requiring a physical compositional element. This results in the concept of {{transliteration|ja|ma}} being less reliant on the existence of a gap, and more closely related to the perception of a gap.{{cite web|url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/ealac/V3613/ma/|title=Ma|website=www.columbia.edu}} The existence of {{transliteration|ja|ma}} in an artwork has been interpreted as "an emptiness full of possibilities, like a promise yet to be fulfilled", and has been described as "the silence between the notes which make the music".{{cite web|url=https://wawaza.com/pages/when-less-is-more-the-concept-of-japanese-ma.html|title=When Less is More: Japanese "MA" concept, minimalism & beyond|website=wawaza.com}}

The {{transliteration|ja|tokonoma}} alcove in a traditional Japanese room is a space or a stage used to display important objects, such as a painting scroll, an important art object, or a flower arrangement. The concept is also associated with {{transliteration|ja|oku}} or the Japanese spatial concept of "inwardness".{{cite book |last=Kosinski |first=Jerzy |title=Passing by: Selected Essays, 1962–1991 |date=1995 |publisher=Grove Press |isbn=978-0-8021-3423-3}}{{rp|4}}

In {{transliteration|ja|ikebana}}, the space around the flowers is considered to be equally as important as the flowers and plants themselves, with harmony and balance between the two considered the ideal.{{Cite web |title=Ma « Unique Japan |url=https://new.uniquejapan.com/ikebana/ma/}}{{cite web |date=24 April 2020 |title=MA — The Japanese Concept of Space and Time {{!}} by Kiyoshi Matsumoto {{!}} Medium |work=Medium |url=https://medium.com/@kiyoshimatsumoto/ma-the-japanese-concept-of-space-and-time-3330c83ded4c |last1=Matsumoto |first1=Kiyoshi }}

In karate, {{transliteration|ja|ma}} refers to the distance between two fighters. Knowing the safe distance between oneself and an opponent based on their reach is considered "understanding {{transliteration|ja|ma}}".

Among English loanwords of Japanese origin, both {{transliteration|ja|ma}} (interval, space) and {{transliteration|ja|ken}} (unit of architectural measurement) are written with the Chinese character {{lang|zh|間}} derived from the character {{lang|zh|門}} ("door") and {{lang|zh|日}} ("sun").

Originally, the character {{lang|zh|間}} was written with the radical for "moon" ({{lang|zh|月}}) instead of the character for "sun" ({{lang|zh|日}}), and, in this form ({{lang|zh|閒}}, {{transliteration|zh|xián}}), depicted, according to Bernhard Karlgren, "A door through the crevice of which the moonshine peeps in".Bernhard Karlgren, Analytic Dictionary of Chinese and Sino-Japanese, (Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1923) Dover Publications reprint 1974, p. 130.

The character can be read differently when emphasis is put on the connection between things ({{transliteration|ja|awai}}), the distance between things ({{transliteration|ja|aida}}), or the distance between people ({{transliteration|ja|aidagara}}).{{Cite book |title=Ma et Aïda: Des possibilités de la pensée et de la culture japonaises |collaboration=Collectif |publisher=Éditions Picquier |year=2021 |isbn=978-2-8097-1521-7 |location=France |pages=56 |language=fr}}

In his 2001 book, The Art of Looking Sideways, graphic designer Alan Fletcher discussed the importance that perceived negative space could hold in art:

{{blockquote|

Space is substance. Cézanne painted and modelled space. Giacometti sculpted by "taking the fat off space". Mallarmé conceived poems with absences as well as words. Ralph Richardson asserted that acting lay in pauses... Isaac Stern described music as "that little bit between each note - silences which give the form"... The Japanese have a word {{transliteration|ja|(ma)}} for this interval which gives shape to the whole. In the West we have neither word nor term. A serious omission.|The Art of Looking Sideways, page 370The Art of Looking Sideways. by Alan Fletcher. Page 370. Published by Phaidon, 2001. {{ISBN|0-7148-3449-1}}.}}

Derrick de Kerckhove described {{transliteration|ja|ma}} as "the complex network of relationships between people and objects".{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Ve7_jMQPysC&pg=PA157|title=Marshall McLuhan: Theoretical elaborations|first=Gary|last=Genosko|date=2 April 2019|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9780415321716|via=Google Books}}

• {{transliteration|ja|Maai}}
• {{transliteration|ja|Mu}}
• {{transliteration|zh|Wu wei}}, a term in Chinese philosophy
• Negative space
• Yin and yang
• Liminality
• The Void (philosophy)

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130720011843/http://truecenterpublishing.com/photopsy/negative_space.htm "Negative Space" - discussing photographic techniques]}}

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Category:Japanese words and phrases

Category:Zen

Category:Composition in visual art

Category:Japanese aesthetics