Tanizaki Junichiro on Japanese Aesthetics -In Praise of Shadows -No2
さぁ、いよいよ谷崎のエッセイ「陰翳礼讃」について、記事の後半がスタートします。あなたに深く問いかけをしていきます。「あなたはそれが見えますか？あなたにとって、それはどんな意味があるのですか？私たちは何を残し、何を捨てようとしているのでしょうか。そして、それは影とどう関係するのか？」一緒に谷崎の世界を楽しみましょう。 The second half of the article will finally begin on Tanizaki's essay "In Praise of Shadows". He asks you some deep questions. "Do you see it? What does it mean to you? What are we leaving behind and what are we throwing away? And how does it relate to shadows?" Let's enjoy Tanizaki's world together.
Tanizaki Junichiro on Japanese Aesthetics -In Praise of Shadows -No2
1)
Tanizaki's words have a charisma that invites readers to think deeply.
The great Kanto earthquake provided the initial impetus for Tanizaki's move to western Japan.
More than 100,000 people died or went missing in that disaster.
Tanizaki wrote in praise of shadows ten years later.
In the recovery period, he watched with complex emotions as Tokyo resumed its course toward modernization.
And here we are today.
It's been nearly ten years since the unprecedented damage caused by the great east Japan earthquake.
2)
Tanizaki's essay came ten years after the Great Kanto earthquake.
Now it's almost ten years since the Great East Japan earthquake.
It is a time for reflection.
Ahead of the Olympics, we have many things to overcome.
That's our current situation.
Energy and the climate crisis are pressing issues, and illness, too, with the pandemic.
Tanizaki's essay stirs the imagination.
It's been nearly a century since he wrote it.
But it still challenges us.
The volume is charged with superb thought and philosophical power.
I genuinely believe that.
3)
Tanizaki lived in a time of American-style modernization aimed at more incredible material wealth and convenience.
It was a trend that could no longer be stopped.
But Tanizaki had this to say,
No matter how stubbornly stoic you may be, one can't help feeling cold on a snowy day, add the saying goes.
If a convenient warming device is set in front of you, you'll be tempted to use it without worrying about whether it's elegant though this is inescapable.
I can't help wondering how our present society would be different if the east had developed a scientific civilization that was utterly independent of the west.
It is something that always occupies my mind.
4)
Imagine, for example, if we had our fields of physics and chemistry
that provided the basis for technology manufacturing and our unique development.
Wouldn't we now have all kinds of daily appliances, medicines, and handicrafts that better suit our national character if that were the case?
Indeed, please take it a step further if we had approached the very principles of physics and chemistry from a perspective that diverged from those of the west.
5)
We may well have uncovered the properties and functions of light electricity and atoms that are quite different from what we've been taught.
Essentially, "In Praise of Shadows" is old but relevant today.
That's because aesthetic sense is eternal, but we enter a completely different world if we talk about rationality or convenience.
Above all, the Japanese aesthetic sense has developed alongside nature.
6)
We loved nature, so we didn't ruin it.
But now, we are quickly destroying nature.
We build hotels and office buildings for their commercial value.
Our traditional aesthetic is the opposite of that.
It's something to be proud of as Japanese.
We must pass that older aesthetic on to the next generation.
"In Praise of Shadows" isn't just about shadows.
It's also about the light that resides in shadow.
It asks each of us if we can perceive that light.
It's an essay that challenges us.
It doesn't just elicit a feel-good "Oh, I get it" response.
Tanizaki draws us further.
7)
He asks us, "Can you see it?
What does it mean to you?"
Today, in our lives.
What are we choosing to keep, and what are we casting way?
Tanizaki asks, "How does that relate to shadows?"
He addresses our self-awareness as individual, living beings.
I feel the demands something from us a certain resoluteness.
8)
In praise of shadows was written 90 years ago.
Tanizaki's ideas live on today concerning traditional Japanese beauty and culture that is woven from light and darkness.
Some people say that as civilization advances.
Transportation will move to the skies and underground
returning our city streets to their former quietness.
But, unfortunately, I do not doubt that
new devices will appear to bedevil the elderly when that time arrives.
In the end, this is just an idle complaint.
I fully recognize the many blessings of our times and know that nothing I say at this point will change anything.
9)
Japan is already pursuing the path of western culture as long as that's true. It will push forward and leave older men like me behind.
But until the color of our skin changes, we must be prepared to accept a heavy loss that falls only on us.
My intention in writing this is that I hope to leave behind in some fields, such as literature or the fine arts, a way to make up for that loss.
We are already losing the world of shadows, but I hope to call it back, at least in the realm of literature.
10)
I want to deepen the eaves of the temple we call literature darken its walls, push overexposed things into darkness and remove useless decorations from the rooms.
I don't ask to do this with a whole street.
I'd be content with just one house in shadow.
No one can predict how it might go but to experiment.
Let's turn off the lights.
Tanizaki Junichiro on Japanese Aesthetics [4K UHD] - In Praise of Shadows
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C42INHwTfDM