Jun'ichirō Tanizaki: "In Praise of Shadows" RP Harrison, Ethen Wood, Meri Mitsuyoshi, Mark Gonnerman

In Jun’ichirō Tanizaki‘s 1933 classic "In Praise of Shadows," the Japanese author sums up in 73 pages what he feels Japan has lost in becoming modern. "In brief, it is his view that the traditional Japanese arts thrived in the shade, and that the glaring light of the Twentieth Century is destroying them," wrote Edward Seidensticker in "The Atlantic" in 1955. "He suggests at the end of the essay that we try turning down the lights."
Panelists included Stanford Prof. Robert Pogue Harrison, author, director of Another Look, host of the radio talk show and podcast series "Entitled Opinions," and a regular contributor to "The New York Review of Books," and three special guests: Mark Gonnerman, who has a Stanford PhD in religious studies, has been a student of Japanese histories and cultures since he first ventured to Kyoto in the mid-1970s. Meri Mitsuyoshi is a longtime Another Look participant whose appreciation of Japanese aesthetics is informed by study of ritual and intergenerational cultural transmission.
Rounding out the panel: Ethen Wood, the associate director of Stanford’s Sustainable Architecture + Engineering. For eleven years, he has taught architectural design studio courses and co-taught courses on Japanese modern architecture. In addition, he has his own architectural design office in San Francisco. He grew up in San Francisco’s Zen Buddhist community in the 80’s and spent part of his childhood in a Zen Buddhist monastery in the mountains of Carmel, without electricity. “This was part of a concerted effort by the temple to stay true to the traditions and historic experiences from Japan,” he said.
The "hybrid" event took place on Monday, April 29, 2024, at Levinthal Hall, in the Stanford Humanities Center.
Another Look is sponsored by the Stanford Humanities Center, the Stanford Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages, and the Continuing Studies Program at Stanford.