Japanese Sense Of Beauty Essay

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The uniqueness of Japanese sense of beauty --- shadows

Junichiro Tanizaki (2011) stated that “Beauty does not exist in the object but the ripples and brightness of the shadows created by objects” in his work ‘In Praise of Shadows’ to express his opinion on Japanese sense of beauty about shadows (p. 35). In aesthetics dictionaries, the shadow is vividly described as "the light and shade cast by many branches of foliage on the ground." Ancient Japanese discovered and enjoyed the beauty from shadows which led to shadow aesthetics become Japanese unique aesthetic tradition. On the other hand, European developed a totally different aesthetic tradition which advocates light and sunshine. This report will first compare the different aesthetic traditions
The roof is huge and heavy in spite of temples, palace, and farmhouse in Japan. The indoor area is full of shadows under the big roofs and people even cannot distinguish the walls and pillars. Japanese enjoy seeing the golden sunshine outdoor when they stay in the area where cannot be reached by light. They appreciate this kind of beauty and the beauty of Japanese house totally depends on the degree of shadows (Junichiro Tanizaki, 2011). Japanese are also accustomed to building corridors on the edge of the house and set paper doors to weaken sunshine expect using big roofs. By using these ways, they can create an environment of shadows in their house. In terms of tokonoma, the beauty of shadows is also applied. Tokonoma is a built-in recessed space in the Japanese house, so the light inserted will be weakened which creates a sense of mystery. Many hanging scrolls are not famous or perfect themselves but they become classical once they are hung in the tokonoma because the blurry image is more suitable for Japanese sense of beauty, they think the vague ancient poetry and painting is quainter. European houses, however, are heavily influenced by light. European ideal home is a clean and bright place where windows should be polished so that the sunshine can fully insert. The fireplace in the living room is not only for winter heating but also for lighting during a long night. The park usually
Western diamonds culture is more rational and focus on its formation mechanism and the beauty of structure, with more logical thinking but less imaginal thinking, more scientific exploration but less humanistic precipitation. Westerners pay more attention to its crystal structure, internal structure, material composition. They try to study diamonds from a natural point of view and a scientific point of view in order to understand nature and explore scientific knowledge which is a purely logical and knowledge-seeking culture. In fact, they do not have stone culture, but only stone science, geology and mineral science. However, people try to give jades meanings and appreciate these meanings in eastern. Easterners focus more on the character of jades, for example, people appreciate the shadows and weak light emitted by jades because they think it is kind of character of implicit and restraining which in line with their aesthetic

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