In Praise of Shadows*, is a book on aesthetics by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki. I found the book 12 years ago while studying traditional Japanese architecture in Kyoto and taking pictures for a photo show I titled Japanese Lines.
In Praise of Shadows came up the other day with one of our clients, too.
What’s really neat about it is how Tanizaki, even in 1933, could so specifically pinpoint the difference between how Easterners and Westerners view darkness. The former sees darkness as integral to discerning and naming beauty.
In the book, Tanizaki writes: “Darkness causes us no discontent, we resign ourselves to it as inevitable. If light is scarce then light is scarce; we will immerse ourselves in the darkness and there discover its own particular beauty.”
Yes. Dark places delineate that which is actually light. Without one, the other wouldn’t be.
Tanizaki continues with a bit of a critique. “But the progressive Westerner is determined always to better his lot. From candle to oil lamp, oil lamp to gaslight, gaslight to electric light—his quest for a brighter light never ceases, he spares no pains to eradicate even the minutest shadow.”
What can we infer? Lots.
[Space to infer various.]
On the cover shown just here the large brush-stroked character is a hiragana one for “mu,” which means “nothing.” Some of you know there are three writing systems in Japanese, one of which is borrowed from China. It’s the “mu” written in this last system–called Kanji–that inspired this post on Samuel Beckett’s Godot.
Godot, beam me up
Japanese Lines for my Mom
More from In Search of Meaning
*陰翳礼讃 if your computer picks up Japanese
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