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yy RS cash i sat a i In Pra — U ‘ NT ie In Praise of Shadows In Praise Shadows Junichiro lanizaki with a foreword by Kengo Kuma translated by Gregory Starr photography and book design by Andrew Pothecary Sopra Books « USA Sopra Books In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki translation copyright © 2017 by Gregory Starr photographs and illustrations © 2017 by Andrew Pothecary All rights reserved. No portion of this book in excess of fair use considerations may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the copyright holders. Published March, 2021 by Sopra Books Los Angeles, CA [email protected] ISBN 978-0-578-87403-6 Contents Foreword by Kengo Kuma In Praise of Shadows On construction 1§ The toilet aesthetic 18 A different course 23 A novelist’s daydreams 26 On paper, tin and dirt 29 Candlelight and lacquerware 35 Bowls of broth 38 The enigma of shadows 41 An uncanny silence 46 Reflections in darkness SO Shadows on the stage 56 The woman of old 60 Beauty in the dark 64 The world of shadows 68 A cool breeze in total darkness 72 Final grumblings 78 Afterword by Eve Zimmerman 87 Translator’s notes 93 Acknowledgments 98 oe ~s— _— ofAni\, i Cé 4, 258 DNS > OTT WWE Sege> hLb C L et 2 Sf”F BP LOAO oPP es / / | (N{Ii'i | il x om. A‘ \ N uk ~i A% Ni S : ss. o ix ta, 7 S KE { / | { 2 \y = e == SN *. AN mK x A K eo i ~N y —s ee ey —_~ -—~ “,..to keep daylight ever more distant from the interior, which is further protected by the shoji doors, allowing only the dimmest reflection of light to stealin from the garden...” - page 44 IN PRAISE OF SHADOWS Foreword I HAVE MADE A DISCOVERY—that Junichiro Tanizaki is an exceptionally contemporary author. With this new edition of his work by a translator versed in architectural terms and the lan- guage of film, the nature of his modernity by Kengo Kuma has become all the more readily apparent. Most Japanese picture the author as a kimono-clad literary giant expounding on the essence of Japanese culture. While we celebrate other men of letters, like Yasunari Kawabata and Yukio Mishima, our impression of Tanizaki is of a larger-than-life figure—a member of an older generation who lived in another universe and had an appreciation of the deepest aspects of the cultural milieu. I also thought of him in this way. But reading Tanizaki again, I am struck by the modernity of his work. To him, humans are living creatures, and nothing more. Astonishingly, it is this coldly factual viewpoint, seem- ingly so antiquated yet incredibly current, that Tanizaki seeks to share with his readers. These living creatures, obliged to seek shelter from the harsh elements, simply preferred locations that offered adequate protection from direct sunlight, the rain and wind. They preferred shadows—and In Praise of Shadows is, in the end, the story of their fate. When I was a child, I would play on a nearby riverbed, lifting up stones to surprise the many strange insects lurking in the a FL gloom below. We humans are no different in our preference for the safety of shadows. The living creatures we call the Japanese held on to this primeval character trait over the years, steadily refining and building on it until it reached its culmination in the country’s architecture, the structural combination of extended eaves and tatami rooms—a mechanism for generat- ing our own shadows. Simply put, what we might call architectural refinement is just a logical expression of our own nature. Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows is more architectural dis- course than literary essay; but beyond that, it is a scientific treatise on the ecology of a specific variety of living creatures. The essence of his message harmonizes splendidly with the brisk tempo of this new translation. I started thinking seriously about the relationship of living creatures to the world of shadows following the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck the coast of eastern Japan on March 11, 2011. To personally experience such a disaster is to learn that in the face of the overwhelming power of Mother Nature, we are no different than the insects hiding among the rocks on a dry riverbed. In every age, such disasters force us to face this truth—that we are but small, frail creatures. Tanizaki, too, understood this. He wrote In Praise of Shadows in the years following the unprecedented disaster of his time, the 1923 Tokyo earthquake that claimed the lives of over 140,000 people. I also took on a project after a major disaster when, following the March 11 tragedy, I chose “shadow” as the theme of IN PRAISE OF SHADOWS my design proposal that was chosen for the new National Sta- dium, host to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The architecture of modernism views eaves as a villain, finding righteousness in white, abstract boxes. This “correct” way Kengo Kuma is of thinking is an integral part of the age of an award-winning architect, professor industrialization, as people have forgot- at the Graduate ten that we are also living creatures. But School ofArchitecture | didn’t want to make a featureless box; I at the University d di th d h of Tokyo and a wanted a stadium with eaves deep enoug prolific author. to cast massive shadows. Because the new stadium is being con- structed on what was formerly part of the gardens of Meiji Jingu, one of Tokyo’s largest shrines, I thought the large shaded area could act as an intermediary, helping the structure dissolve into the surrounding forest of the shrine. If I could, I would hide the architecture altogether and conceal myself within that vast shadow. As I reread In Praise of Shadows with this in mind, it dawned on me why Tanizaki chose to include a discussion of what, at first glance, some might feel is the antithesis of refined Japa- nese culture: the toilet, subject of many a dirty joke. I realized that Tanizaki clearly saw the physical properties of the people who made their existence within the beauty of shadows, and wanted to offer his readers something more than just a cultural study. He sought to present a practical, ecological treatise on the natural bodily functions of the living creature known as man-—and what could be more natural than excretion? [ee a La It is this unflinching attention to the facts of existence that drew Tanizaki to his own traditions, and us to him. It is for his contemporary sensibilities and the exquisite sense of humor I see in passages like this that I find myself once again filled with admiration for his work. M aM M NNASNS TUT “,..- floating under the eaves, a deep darkness...” - page 43 10