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organicwario's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.5
ledimirnunez's review against another edition
4.0
Tanizaki wrote a beautiful essay on aesthetics that also serves as an ode to the design, elegance, and sincere passion of the antiquities of the orient. He praises the use of shadows, and the use of darkness to create a sort of portrait effect for that which is deemed 'the essential'. For instance, he uses the example of women who would be clothed from the neck down, exposing only the white of their face to the observer. Tanizaki's aesthetic idealization of this choice of design leaves much to question. Against a plain backdrop is where we place our paintings in museums, such that the observer can distinguish the borderlines where art begins and ends. However, under a social and even practical lens, we as readers can question aesthetic standards set by custom and tradition and those that are chosen and reflect the individual's expression of self. In other words, beautiful as it may have been, it is doubtful these outfits were chosen by their bearers.
I find it beautiful, and fundamental to aesthetics, how we decide what we prefer in the face of what is customary. Tanizaki explores this subject through the beauty that is shadows, and his critique of the shift that was occurring in Orient culture at the time this article was written, in 1933. That shift was of flash over functionality as America, and Japan, following in its footsteps, were become immense consumers of electricity, paying to keep up neon signs, led bulbs, and supporting a never-ending brightness. This shift directly threatened the silent, humble beauty of homes in China and Japan, in Tanizaki's views. His critique was that such a shift in values was making us more wasteful, and that in our metamorphosis we would lose our essential substance.
Tanizaki describes beautiful elements of the old and minimal designs. The toilets that served as sanctuaries of solitude and as inspiration for poets. The shared rooms that, in their darkness, felt endless but overflowed with character. The dull-glow of a sake bottle passed on through the natural oils that come from our constant handling. All of these elements are beautifully depicted, and really remind us to seek beauty in the things that shape our material lives. We should see the dulness of our objects, not as a fault, but as the reason for why they mean so much to us. Moreover, our homes should be seen as more than empty encasings. In a sense, we are living in empty canvases and we should be wary about rushing to fill our homes and buildings with objects, people, and even light. Because everything has an effect on elegance and style, even the shadows.
I find it beautiful, and fundamental to aesthetics, how we decide what we prefer in the face of what is customary. Tanizaki explores this subject through the beauty that is shadows, and his critique of the shift that was occurring in Orient culture at the time this article was written, in 1933. That shift was of flash over functionality as America, and Japan, following in its footsteps, were become immense consumers of electricity, paying to keep up neon signs, led bulbs, and supporting a never-ending brightness. This shift directly threatened the silent, humble beauty of homes in China and Japan, in Tanizaki's views. His critique was that such a shift in values was making us more wasteful, and that in our metamorphosis we would lose our essential substance.
Tanizaki describes beautiful elements of the old and minimal designs. The toilets that served as sanctuaries of solitude and as inspiration for poets. The shared rooms that, in their darkness, felt endless but overflowed with character. The dull-glow of a sake bottle passed on through the natural oils that come from our constant handling. All of these elements are beautifully depicted, and really remind us to seek beauty in the things that shape our material lives. We should see the dulness of our objects, not as a fault, but as the reason for why they mean so much to us. Moreover, our homes should be seen as more than empty encasings. In a sense, we are living in empty canvases and we should be wary about rushing to fill our homes and buildings with objects, people, and even light. Because everything has an effect on elegance and style, even the shadows.
summerof09_'s review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
peebee's review against another edition
4.0
Neat little book, always kinda wondered why other cultures had to ape western styles, without informing them from their own. Not that he knows either. Kinda funny that a pre WWII Japan was already blue about how completely the Japanese culture was being supplanted by the West.
theoretically_reading's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
Very skillfully written, full of both gems of insight and total crap, but definitely worth reading to start understanding some cornerstones of Japanese aesthetics that definitely inform cities like Kyoto and Nara to this day. Just take it on-guard, not like gospel. Enjoy!
Content Warnings
Minor: Racial slurs
The author discusses, in an unsettling way, the racialized resistance to/violence towards people of varied skin colorations by multiple societies. There's also an anecdote containing a crack on Einstein's Jewishness. Just don't be caught off guard, reader.