In Praise of Shadows in Praise of Shadows

An essay on aesthetics by the Japanese novelist, this book explores architecture, jade, food, and even toilets, combining an acute sense of the use of space in buildings. The book also includes descriptions of laquerware under candlelight and women in the darkness of the house of pleasure. "This is a powerfully anti-modernist book, yet contains the most beautiful evocation of the traditional Japanese aesthetic, which cast such a spell on Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright. "The contradiction is easily explained: Tanizaki sees the empty Japanese wall as not empty at all, but a surface on which light continually traces its fugitive presence against encroaching shadow. He constructs a myth of the origin of the Japanese house: it began with a roof and overhanging eaves, which cast a shadow on the earth, calling forth a shelter." Read more: http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3159684&origin=BDweeklydigest#ixzz0iOulXDEW Widely considered to be a classic, this essay on Japanese aesthetics by a major author ranges from the patina of lacquerware and the custom of moon-viewing to monastery toilets and the lighting in a brothel, while contrasting the Japanese sense of subtlety and nuance with Western imports such as electric lighting

An essay on aesthetics by the Japanese novelist, this book explores architecture, jade, food, and even toilets, combining an acute sense of the use of space in buildings. The book also includes descriptions of laquerware under candlelight and women in the darkness of the house of pleasure.