In Praise of Shadows, by Tanizaki Junichiro 

Translated by Thomas Harper, Edward Seidensticker, and Gregory Starr 

(1933, translated 1977, 2017)

Leete’s Island Books

(Literary Essay)

Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows is a thoughtful, wandering, and somewhat playful attempt to explain the Japanese aesthetic of the early 20th century. Having traveled abroad, he returns to his homeland with deep love and admiration for the Japanese way of life while realizing that Western eyes may be unable to see and truly experience what the Japanese perceive as beautiful, comforting, and revitalizing. His topics can be surprisingly mundane. For example, he opens his essay on the topic of the traditional toilet room, a place he describes as the civilizing, calming center of a home embracing physical hygiene, natural materials, and quiet contemplation. Tanizaki speaks of the layout, materials, and construction of the traditional home, explaining the purpose of the low, overhanging roofs, the alcove for spiritual reflection, and the long, shallow porches. He writes at length about the silence of the home and the way that the breezes and sounds of the natural world are allowed to move throughout the structure. One of the more interesting observations he makes is that Westerners seem to him to be obsessed with using electric light to drive out the darkness from every corner of the home, while Japanese prefer a candle or single bulb and the warm, filtered light that glows from behind a shoji screen. Anyone interested in reading novels of the first half of 20th century Japan should make a point of reading and studying this introduction to a Japanese way of living.

“Ceramics are heavy and cold to the touch; they clatter and clink, and being efficient conductors of heat are not the best containers for hot foods. But lacquerware is light and soft to the touch, and gives off hardly a sound. I know few greater pleasures than holding a lacquer soup bowl in my hands, feeling upon my palms the weight of the liquid and its mild warmth. The sensation is something like that of holding a plump new-born baby.” (14)