Wabi is the Japanese word for great taste—specifically, it is the ability to create beauty out of simplicity. Most Americans struggle with wabi, whereas Betty Kasoura embodies it.
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The timeline below shows where the term Wabi appears in The Man in the High Castle. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7
...a Japanese kimono. Childan admires the tasteful décor of the apartment, which he feels possesses wabi—an untranslatable Japanese word about finding beauty in simplicity. As they sit down to drinks, Paul...
(full context)
Chapter 11
...that the piece has a special kind of spiritual balance. Though it does not have wabi, the Japanese word for good taste, it does have wu, a Chinese word for the...
(full context)
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Sabel, Francesca. "The Man in the High Castle Term: Wabi." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 13 Oct 2021. Web. 14 Apr 2025.
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