In Praise of Shadows #

Jun’ichirō Tanizaki #

September 13, 2024

4/5

I mostly read this becuase of how much I had heard about it in certain design circles. To that capacity, the book (essay?) is quite an interesting discussion of Japanese aesthetics.

I did certainly feel on a lot of occasions that sometimes it just felt like a person complaining about change (which is even moreso true when you realize this was published in 1933), but I can understand and even appreciate where some of that complaining is coming from.

With respect to the discusison of Japanese aesthetics more directly, I can understand why this is so heavily read in certain design circles. It does teach you a lot about the value of certain things that you may not put a lot of value in. This will, of course, be a very Japanese-centric view of aesthetic and the way things should be (design-wise), but understanding a different approach will allow you to take a greater appreciation of certain components of design. It is part of the reason why I hear so much more about shadows, darkness, and glimmer than I used to.