Definition of SHIBUMI as excerpted from “Shibumi” by Trevanian:

“SHIBUMI has to do with great refinement underlying commonplace appearances. It is a statement so correct that it does not have to be bold, so poignant it does not have to be pretty, so true it does not have to be real.  SHIBUMI is understanding, rather than knowledge.  Eloquent silence.  In demeanor, it is modesty without prudence.  In art, where the spirit of SHIBUMI takes the form of SABI, it is elegant simplicity, articulate brevity.  In philosophy, where SHIBUMI emerges as WABI, it is spiritual tranquility that is not passive; it is being without the angst of becoming.  And in the personality of a man, it is…authority without domination.  One does not achieve SHIBUMI, one…discovers it.  And only a few men of infinite refinement ever do that.  One must pass through knowledge and arrive at simplicity to arrive at SHIBUMI.”

We commonly like to refer to the meaning as “understated elegance or a way of life”.  We feel that our vessel chose the name for herself in part because of her sea keeping capabilities and her sea kindliness.

We have been told by some of our guests after spending time on SHIBUMI that they begin to understand the definition further.