Marco Costanzi

years ago, while still a student, I happened to find the bookstore. it was titled ‘in ei raisan’ which translated means eulogy of the penumbra written in 1933 by the japanese junichiro tanizaki. i was struck by that discursive and ‘light’ way of narrating that oriental world that so fascinated me and for which i showed deep admiration. the essay lashed out polemically against all the excesses of contemporary japanese culture and in particular on an inordinate use of electric lighting. tanizaki reviewing customs and traditions of the time described the chromosomal differences between east and west lamenting a tendency of contemporary japanese culture that was increasingly abandoning millenary traditions in favor of the new culture.

in the book, light, or perhaps it would be better to say a certain kind of light, was the protagonist and the point of reference of the ‘analysis of these differences. multiple examples were offered by the author, who went into minute descriptions of the environments of traditional houses, temples, film images, theater no, everyday objects, food.

the description of the smell of hot broth or the sound of boiling water during the preparation of the tea ceremony forced me to think about a different use of emotions. for the first time the lights, the shadows, the contrasts seemed different. who until then had played with light in an attempt to dominate it, had behaved as a good westerner as one who by privileging sight attempts to geometrize experience’ devaluing all other sensations.