古い
ふるい
furui
= old
Furui is old — but not in the way English speakers mean, laden with nostalgia, decay, and the bittersweet beauty of things slowly surrendering to time.
Furui (古い, old) is the adjective meaning old in age or worn condition. Furui gakkou (old school) is literally old but culturally means outdated or conservative. Furui yuki (old snow) means partially melted, aged snow — the word applies to age, condition, and metaphorically to ideas or habits. The emotional valence varies: furui ie (old house) might evoke nostalgia, while furui pasokon (old computer) implies obsolescence. Japanese aesthetics sometimes celebrate furui as beautiful (see wabi-sabi), but in consumer culture, furui is often negative.
Furui is straightforward for age or condition. Atarashii (new) is the opposite. Furui gakkou (old school) is an idiom meaning traditional, conservative, outdated. Furui kanji (old kanji) refers to pre-2010 kanji reforms. The word can be nostalgic (antique furniture) or dismissive (old technology) depending on context.
EXAMPLE 1
この家は古い。
Kono ie wa furui.
This house is old.
EXAMPLE 2
そのやり方は古い。
Sono yarikata wa furui.
That method is outdated.
EXAMPLE 3
古い服を捨てました。
Furui fuku wo sutemashita.
I threw away old clothes.
Japanese aesthetics often valorize furui in a specific way. Wabi-sabi celebrates the beauty of age, decay, and impermanence — an old ceramic bowl is beautiful precisely because it is worn and imperfect. This contrasts with Western culture’s tendency to fetishize newness and discard the old.
In architecture, old temples and gardens are preserved as national treasures, and furui ie (old house) tourism is popular. Yet in consumer culture and technology, furui is negatively charged — furui pasokon must be replaced. This tension between aesthetic reverence and consumerist dismissal of age is distinctly Japanese.
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