A fully illustrated; beautifully produced edition of Junichiro Tanizaki's wise and evocative essay on Japanese culture. 'We find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows; the light and the darkness; that one thing against another creates... Were it not for shadows; there would be no beauty.' This book is in fact a portal. Reading it; you will be led by Junichiro Tanizaki's light touch into a mysterious and tranquil world of darkness and shadows; where gold flashes in the gloom and a deep stillness reigns. If you are accustomed to equate light with clarity; the faded with the worthless and the dim with the dreary; prepare for a courteous but powerful realignment of your ideas. In Praise of Shadows is a poetic paean to traditional Japanese aesthetics - in a free-ranging style that moves from architecture to No theatre; and from cookery to lighting; Tanizaki teaches us to see the beauty in tarnished metal; the sombre dignity in unglazed pottery; the primacy of organic materials that bear witness to the regular touch of human hands. It is also astonishingly prescient; offering a gentle warning against the quest for airbrushed perfection; and reminding us that too much light can pollute and obscure our natural world. In this special edition; the text is accompanied by specially selected images to complement Tanizaki's reflections and further illustrate the pattern and beauty of shadows.