quiet beauty with intelligence, love, light, and joy. These qualities can be more easily registered when quietly viewing simple, natural, everyday phenomenon or objects, such as a sunrise or a simple piece of pottery. Shibui can sometimes be more easily registered by two people in a meditative state (quiet in their emotions and their minds) while viewing the same phenomenon or object. For example, when viewing the same sunset or piece of art, subconsciously, both people register the qualities of the 'Life' or implicity underlying the experience or object; this registration of the underlying 'Life' precipitates into the conscious as registering something 'extraordinary' in the everyday 'ordinary'. If you both register, then looking into the other person's eyes, you understand that you both shared the same phenomenon, a 'knowing' of the underlying 'Life', or at least the qualities of that underlying 'Life'. The qualities registered can seem paradoxical. Complex experiences or objects seem simple; perfection is found in imperfection. All objects and experiences, both everyday and extraordinary, can have a beauty, a quiet purposeful intent, a cool 'matter of fact' underlying joy. Potters, musicians, painters, bonsai, and other artists often work to bring in 'Shibui-like' qualities into their art. A few go behind these qualities to bring the underlying 'Life' into their art. Expert singers, actors, potters, and artists of all other sorts were often said to be shibui; their expertise caused them to do things beautifully without making them excessive or gaudy. Today, sometimes baseball players are even said to be shibui when they contribute to the overall success of the team without doing anything to make themselves stand out individually. The apparent effortlessness displayed by athletes such as tennis player Roger Federer and hockey great Wayne Gretzky are examples of shibumi in personal performance. Shibui, and its underlying 'Life', is found in all art and in everything around us—including ourselves. Taking the path to understand and experience Shibui, is a step toward understanding and consciously registering the 'Life' underlying all. History of the term Originating in the Muromachi period (1336–1573) as shibushi, the term originally referred to a sour or astringent taste, such as that of an unripe persimmon. Shibui maintains that literal meaning still, and remains the antonym of amai (甘い), meaning 'sweet'. However, by the beginnings of the Edo period (1615–1868), the term gradually had begun to refer to a pleasing aesthetic. The people of Edo