Wabi-sabi vs Kaizen

What is Wabi-sabi?

Wabi-sabi is not to be mistaken with wasabi, the spicy condiment that is often served with sushi and sashimi. No, wabi-sabi is finding “beauty in imperfection.”

The most poignant example of wabi-sabi is kintsugi, a Japanese art form, where pieces of broken pottery, from a bowl or vase, for example, are repaired and put back together with gold or silver used as the “glue” that holds the broken pieces back together. The result is that the brokenness is highlighted with gold, or other precious material, such that the imperfections are in fact celebrated. One’s eyes are often drawn to these fractures and reminders of past “mistakes” or flaws that were once part of the dish. Instead of the dish shards and broken pottery pieces, we find value in the golden seams. In some cases, this “glue” and what it represents become more valuable than the dish before the destruction.

A beautiful Kintsugi piece [1].

My children were recently watching a show about a group of people trying to reverse the effects of plastic surgery. The four individuals on the program had spent thousands of dollars trying to become “perfect.” In some cases, they had gone under the knife multiple times to try and attain that elusive perfect body that they, or society, had improperly influenced them to seek at great cost. I only saw about five minutes of the show, but each of the participants was categorically better looking before their surgeries. Many of my children noticed and shared my opinion. There was beauty in their imperfection. Unfortunately, these four people had to learn that the hard way and would need to be "repaired" through reversing their elective cosmetic surgeries. I can only hope that my children and I can adopt wabi-sabi in this and certain areas of our lives and learn to appreciate our imperfections at a much lower cost than these four did.

But what about Kaizen?

At least one reader will say that wabi-sabi is in direct contrast with another Japanese philosophy called kaizen, which means “continuous improvement.” They might offer the argument that improving the way we act and look might require technology, therapy, and even surgery to literally remove the imperfections of our lives. They will state that these four people were just trying to continually improve their physical appearance, and they shouldn’t be shamed for doing so. It is a valid point and one that needs to be addressed.

After all, I have imperfect eyesight. Should I forego glasses, contacts, and laser-eye surgery and simply embrace my eyes’ imperfections? My life would be far less enjoyable if everything were kept in a haze of blurriness. 

Indeed, I’m grateful there are ways to improve my eyesight (a kaizen approach) and I should not sit idle and simply find beauty in my imperfect eyesight (a wabi-sabi approach). But where I can apply wabi-sabi is in things I can’t control or don’t have resources to yet control, and I can apply kaizen in things I can. For example, I can’t control the color of my eyes or whether I’m color blind or not. These are outside our capabilities to change (at least currently), and I should be happy with how things are (wabi-sabi). On the other hand, the shape of my eyeballs’ lenses can be changed, or at least compensated with glasses or contact lenses, and I am able to improve them if I want and if I have the funds, resources, or time to do so (kaizen). 

Another example is learning to walk. I remember watching my young children learning to walk, each around their first birthday. They clearly needed to improve their walking (kaizen) if they were to become independent humans in society, but at every stage, I enjoyed their efforts, and there was beauty in their imperfect walking (wabi-sabi). For other people who are born with dysfunctional legs that will never let them walk, the continuous improvement kaizen strategy is just not an option, and a philosophy of wabi-sabi is encouraged. They, and we, should find beauty in their imperfections. After all, they are a living human being, a biological miracle, despite the blemishes, scars, flaws, and everything else.

Apply wabi-sabi or kaizen?

Now, if you can walk, you still most assuredly have a different flaw that is either very visible to others, or is hidden and only you know about it. 

Whatever it is, think first of those things in your own life that you can’t change. Those are candidates for wabi-sabi. Take joy in those imperfections and realize they are what make you awesome and that your unique characteristics and limitations provide spice to your life and to others. Now, interestingly, some of those things can and will move over to a category that you can change and that you can control. Those are now candidates for kaizen. Working to improve parts of ourselves, our family relationships, and our careers are all really good candidates for kaizen. 

Note that I did not say “working to improve other people.” That is outside our ability to change and control, and we should take a wabi-sabi approach when it comes to others. Yes, we can encourage, inspire, and try to motivate others and even work on our half of the relationship but first and foremost, we should apply wabi-sabi and see beauty in that other person, whatever stage of imperfection they are at, even if it’s a small child learning to walk.

Returning to our own selves, imperfect items in our lives can and will change between these categories, perhaps multiple times, as life’s situations alter. We might be in a stage where resources are plentiful in order to buy and prepare healthy food, and we have time to exercise and improve our health (kaizen). But we also might not have time or resources to do so, and need to quickly buy some fast food on our way home from our second job. Even if one is unable to improve their health, they may still be able to see beauty in their body, whether in function and/or form (wabi-sabi). 

I once experienced a back injury so painful that I was unable to do many physical activities for 18 months. I gained weight and lost strength. The best I could do was be grateful that other parts of my body were functioning (wabi-sabi). Only after the pain subsided was I finally able to start improving my body and recouping my strength through exercise (kaizen). 

There are many other examples that you can likely see spanning across a variety of aspects in your life, such as your financial situation, educational attainments, social lives, physical abilities, hobbies, talents, and self-improvement goals. For some of them, kaizen is an approach that can increase your happiness, but for many of them, in that you don’t currently have control, you should consider a wabi-sabi approach. Be happy with where you are and find beauty in your current state. But be prepared to consider improving once conditions allow. Efficiently moving things from the wabi-sabi category to the kaizen category, and vice versa, can be a source of increased happiness.

Wabi-sabi or Kaizen in Design

With all of the above, I want to conclude with some thoughts about design engineering. In any group project that you have been or will be a part of, there were likely some aspects that you cared about but couldn’t impact, change, or affect. Clearly a wabi-sabi approach is best for those things. Enjoy the progress that someone else might make or simply appreciate that the prototype works some of the time, or at least failed in a way that taught the team something. See the beauty in the imperfections of the design. It might still work, partially, even if it isn’t done. Yet. Interestingly, a lot of products are made and sold that are flawed in some way. We don’t immediately discard them just because they are well-used, old, ugly, rusted, or even slow. In fact, most products we use are likely one of those things. 

Similarly, there may be requirements or time constraints that will never allow you to change the features or color, or attributes of a part of the design you wish you could. See the beauty in the design as it currently stands and be proud of where it is at the design reviews or other stages of development. 

In contrast, if time and resources permit, consider kaizen. Thoughtfully carry out steps and implement processes to help the design evolve through the necessary iterations. If you have control or the ability to improve something, then do it. Sitting back at these times is not the right strategy, even if you are trying to see the beauty in the group’s work at the same time.

Personal projects are no different, even though we may be the sole creator. We all know there are things we would change if we had time or better equipment. Sometimes we do, and so we change those things. But sometimes we don’t, and we can be satisfied with our current accomplishments, imperfect as they may be. Thus, when you share it with others, be prepared to defend the weaknesses they might point out. Certain flaws can be by design, making it unique and beautiful, and that personal project may just be yourself.

A part of the Alcoholics Anonymous prayer is to “accept the things I cannot change, and the courage to change the things I can,” which is a neat application of both philosophies. Likewise, a wabi-sabi/kaizen duality approach is often the best for engineering design projects, and adopting both, at the right time, is a good practice for life.

References

[1] Rassulov, Rufat. "Kintsugi: The Ancient Art of Extreme Acceptance." That's Philosophical, Substack, [Date of publication not available], thatsphilosophical.substack.com/p/kintsugi.

To cite this article:
Salmon, John. “Wabi-sabi vs Kaizen.” The BYU Design Review, 13 August 2025, https://www.designreview.byu.edu/collections/wabi-sabi-vs-kaizen.