Kirei, a common Japanese adjective, does not translate easily. The closest words in English are ‘beautiful’ or ‘pretty’, but it might also be translated as ‘simple’, ‘fair’, ‘pure’, ‘plain’ or ‘clean’. The concept of kirei is a key factor in understanding Japanese aesthetics.

When a mother tells her children to make their room kirei because guests are coming, she does not mean for them to decorate the room but rather to tidy it up, in other words, not to add beauty but to subtract superfluous matter.