Monday, May 21, 2018

Junichiro Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows ***

The final selection from my Kyoto collection of Japanese literature is this essay about Japanese aesthetics. I chose this particular Tanizaki book based almost entirely on its title.

The middle section of the essay is an interesting and atmospherically written mediation about how the spareness of Japanese taste in art and architecture flows from an appreciation of darkness, which contrasts with the Western tendency to illuminate everything as clearly as possible. This idea made me think about three artworks that we saw on Naoshima during our recent trip to Japan:

  • The dark room below the lobby of our hotel, which displayed Hiroshi Sugimoto photos with titles like "Coffin of Light" in purposely low light
  • The Chichu Museum, which is entirely underground and uses only natural light
  • The Ishibashi house that was part of the Art House Project, with its abstract landscapes on its traditional paper walls
In Praise of Shadows starts with a surprisingly long discussion of Western toilets and ends with a questionable hypothesis about a racial dimension to Japanese preferences. The essay enhanced my appreciation of Japanese art and architecture while also making me think of Tanizaki as a grumbler.
The Westerner has been able to move forward in ordered steps, while we have met superior civilization and have had to surrender to it, and we have had to leave a road we have followed for thousands of years.

No comments:

Post a Comment