In Praise of Disappointments.
“The dark miso soup that we eat every morning is one dish from the dimly lit houses of the past. … Much the same may be said of soy sauce. In the Kyoto-Osaka region a particularly thick variety of soy is served with raw fish, pickles, and greens; and how rich in shadows is the viscous sheen of the liquid, how beautifully it blends with the darkness. White foods too—white miso, bean curn, fish cake, the white meat of fish—lose much of their beauty in a bright room. And above all there is rice. A glistening black lacquer rice cask set off in a dark corner is both beautiful to behold and a powerful stimulus to the appetite. … Our cooking depends upon shadows and is inseparable from darkness.”
- Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows.
There was a time when we had to enter a building and judge physical books by their covers, reading prefaces and summaries on the back before committing to one book for the rest of the week.
We did not know how many copies was sold, how many stars it received from the masses, or if it was endorsed by a talking face in a phone.
All we had was the connection and the physical journey leading to the book in hand.
I don’t know how many architects and designers wannabes were influenced by In Praise of Shadows, but I’d estimate the number to be somewhere in between ‘a lot’ and ‘almost all of them’.
It was vague, anti-trend, nostalgic, and also easy to digest. It feeds into the ‘restrained beauty’ found in Japanese culture - tea ceremonies, washoku, lacquerware, architecture, and even a bowl of miso soup.
Darkness is important and often overlooked in the pursuit of beauty.
Modernism and new tech are ‘light’, tradition and old-fashion values are the ‘shadow’.
Light bad; shadow good.
It’s not what you say, it’s what you decide to leave out.
Music is about the rest as much as the notes.
Design is about the white space between the elements.
Being apart is what defines a relationship.
See how you can apply this philosophy to ANYTHING in life?
I’ve just given you a cheat code to not fail any arts, design, or philosophy degree.
As I wrote about our Nagasaki hotel, I couldn’t help but think of In Praise of Shadows as a complimentary reading to Herzog’s rant on everything being illuminated.
On our last morning in Hotel Nampuro, I decided to forego my breakfast buffet1 and take advantage of their complimentary electric bike rental service.
Cycling is the best way to travel in rural Japan, especially in a quiet city like Shimabara. You don’t need a helmet, and sidewalks are all game. No one is polite to the cyclist, and vice versa. I cycled with one hand while filming with my phone with the other. Many kids were texting on their bikes.
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