Fūryū

Originally, fūryū meant inheriting and maintaining the style of one’s predecessors. It carried implicit praise for the more leisurely way of life in formertimes, and for this reason the word eventually came to connote the pursuit of aesthetic pleasures, or suki. But such a lifestyle was difficult to maintain. Many failed at it, and it caused problems for others. Even so, to say of someone “he led a life of fūryū” is a uniquely Japanese compliment of the highest order.