In Praise of Shadows

Themes The essay consists of 16 sections that discuss traditional Japanese aesthetics in contrast with change. Comparisons of light with darkness are used to contrast Western and Asian cultures. The West, in its striving for progress, is presented as continuously searching for light and clarity, while the subtle and subdued forms of East Asian art and literature are seen by Tanizaki to represent an appreciation of shadow and subtlety, closely relating to the traditional Japanese concept of sabi. In addition to contrasting light and dark, Tanizaki further considers the layered tones of various kinds of shadows and their power to reflect low sheen materials like gold embroidery, patina and cloudy crystals. In addition, he distinguishes between the values of gleam and shine. The text presents personal reflections on topics as diverse as architecture and its fittings, crafts, finishes, jade, food, cosmetics and mono no aware (the art of impermanence). Tanizaki explores in close description the use of space in buildings, lacquerware by candlelight, monastery toilets and women in the dark of a brothel. I would call back at least for literature this world of shadows we are losing. In the mansion called literature I would have the eaves deep and the walls dark, I would push back into the shadows the things that come forward too clearly, I would strip away the useless decoration. --> Featured individuals Among the historic and contemporary individuals mentioned in the essay are: • Natsume Sōseki, novelist, on the experience of textures and landscape via the traditional Japanese toilet, p. 9; Sōseki's Pillow of Grass, p. 26. • Saitō Ryokuu, poet quoted as saying "elegance is frigid", p. 10. • Buddha and Confucius, p. 16. • Kongō Iwao, Nō actor, p. 39. • Baikō, aging Kabuki actor, p. 43. • Takebaya Sanehiko, president of Kaizō Publishing House (which had published Tanizaki's earlier novel Quicksand), p. 54. • Albert Einstein, scientist, p. 54. == Publication history ==

Tanizaki's aesthetic credo was already sketched out in a series of comments that appear in his 1929 novel Some Prefer Nettles, and subsequently published in the more polished form of in 1933. Penguin Random House released a paperback reprint of this version in 2001. A later illustrated English translation by Gregory Starr was published by Sora Books in December 2017. This 102-page edition includes a foreword by the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma and an afterword by Japanese literature Professor of Wellesley College. A new English translation by , an associate professor of Japanese Studies at the College of William & Mary, was published in May 2026. It is a hardbound 192-page edition by Tuttle Publishing. This volume also includes translations of three additional Tanizaki essays (Hanshin Observations, 1925; At Okamoto, 1929; and Osaka and Osakans as I See Them, 1932which, according to Cronin, read together "form a prequel to the retranslated edition"), as well as photographs by John Einarsen, the editor of Kyoto Journal. Other languages An Italian version, , was published by Bompiani in 1988. , a French translation by René Sieffert was published by Éditions Verdier in 2011. Translations have also been published in German, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and many other languages. == Reception and influence ==

The work has been praised for its insight and relevance into issues of modernity and culture, and Tanizaki has been called an "ecological prophet". Junichiro Tanizaki selects for praise all things delicate and nuanced, everything softened by shadows and the patina of age, anything understated and natural—as for example the patterns of grain in old wood, the sound of rain dripping from eaves and leaves, or washing over the footing of a stone lantern in a garden, and refreshing the moss that grows about it – and by doing so he suggests an attitude of appreciation and mindfulness, especially mindfulness of beauty, as central to life lived well. In addition to Moore and Kuma, other prominent architects, designers, and artists have spoken of the book's influence on their work, including people such as Rebecca Salter, Tadao Ando, and Isamu Noguchi, as well as the British architect David Adjaye, who described it as "essential reading". Tanizaki's influence, and especially that of In Praise of Shadows has also been widely acknowledged by writers such as Edogawa Ranpo. Michael Cronin's 2026 translation aims to hew more closely to the source and "capture Tanizaki’s original rhythm". It preserves Tanizaki's longer, unbroken sentence structure, including "a colossal, unbroken four-page paragraph, a torrent that sweeps the reader along irresistibly in its slipstream." == In popular culture ==

The book also served as the primary inspiration for an album of the same name by musician Puma Blue, and an album by the jazz musicians Chicago Underground Duo. == References ==