Light and Shadow

week 10

     This week is last week in which I write my blog. It is "Light and Shadow" that I will tell you about last week. Do you know a book entitled "In Praise of Shadow (陰翳礼讃)"? It is an essay which was written by Junichiro Tanizaki (谷崎潤一郎). It was published in "Traffic Economy" from 1933 to 1934, and is often cited when you think about Japanese construction and design. In addition, "In Praise of Shadow" has many remarkable parts except aspects of design, for example, the author's own sense of values, life, and beauty of Japanese people at the time and so on.


     Then, I summarized "In Praise of Shadow".

     It is "shadow" that is an important element of traditional Japanese beauty. Japanese people begin to use the conveniences of Western civilization these days (at the time when "In Praise of Shadow" was written). But Western civilization was established on the soil of Western culture, so, if the conveniences of civilization had been imported to Japan, the civilization suitable for Japanese people would have been established on the soil of Japanese culture.
     Although Western people find value in shiny things, Japanese people, Oriental people hate shiny things. Japanese people prefer darkness to light. Of course, Western houses have roof, but it is used in order to surpass the rain, and Western houses have the system to let in sunlight. So Western houses do not have the eaves. On the other hand, Japanese houses needed to prevent driving rain, so the eaves became larger and the indoor became space of darkness. However, the ancestors of Japanese people have discovered the beauty from the darkness. For example, lacquered tableware is very harmonious with light of candles twinkling in the darkness at the dim space. Ikebana and hanging scroll itself is not something to appreciate, and harmony between them and the floor and walls (=床うつり) is important.
     We create beauty in nothing. It is said that beauty not dwell on the object but exist in the figure of darkness which the darkness of the object and the object, in the light and shade.


     Next, I will state what I felt when reading "In Praise of Shadow". The traditional Japanese houses have a little light penumbra created in space by akarishoji (明かり障子) during the day. The light transmitted through such Japanese paper softly show anything in the room, and make facial expression gentle. In Japan which is hot and humid, the sunlight arrives at the ground through the thin filter of the moisture, so the natural scenery looks hazy. The ancestors of Japanese people who have looked at such views of light every day have a high sensitivity to faint appearance. Therefore, aesthetics in Japanese construction,  compared to paintings, look like an unshaded flat painting style and aesthetics in Western construction look like stereoscopic representation and rules of perspective using chiaroscuro in many cases.