In Praise of Shadows

Tanizaki’s “In Praise of Shadows” is not necessarily written as an argumentative essay. Instead, it provides a weaving narrative structure, jumping across different examples, time periods, and cultural forms to demonstrate his perspective on aesthetics. In particular, it shows that understandings of beauty are culturally situated and can even possess deep social and political meaning. For this reason, it is important for him to craft the essay so that it is effective at both an academic level that provides well-supported arguments and relevant historical examples and at a creative level that engages the reader through imagistic writing anchored in emotion and spirituality.

In terms of his intended audience, Tanizaki wrote this essay primarily for the Japanese public; it was published in English in the January 1955 issue of The Atlantic. In particular, he seeks to draw attention to aspects of traditional Japanese culture that may be taken for granted, especially when Japan is rapidly changing due to Western modernization. Rather than merely making his claim as a matter of aesthetic preference, however, he wants his readers to be aware of the long history of Japanese cultural expressions and ways of living that are tied to these seemingly small matters of aesthetics.