An essay on aesthetics by the Japanese novelist. The text ranges over architecture, jade, food, toilets and combines an acute sense of the use of space in buildings, as well as descriptions of lacquerware under candlelight and women in the darkness of the house of pleasure. The author also wrote "Some Prefer Nettle". "Arrowroot", "A Portrait of Shunkin", "The Tale of Genji", "The Makioka Sisters", "The Key" and "Diary of a Mad Old Man".
Fascinating essay by a twentieth-century Japanese novelist on how sometimes beauty is created by shadows rather than light. Touching on the far-going influence of Western aesthetics on Japanese culture, In Praise of Shadows is a meandering and thoughtful exposition on a changing world.
