ABSTRACT
The aesthetic contribution of shadows to traditional Japanese architecture is described in Junichiro Tanizaki’s 1933 work translated as In Praise of Shadows. Traditional Japanese architecture uses shadow in practical and aesthetic ways. The gentle play of the shadows of a tree on an adjacent screen wall supplements the visual interest of a Japanese garden. In traditional Japanese architecture screens are sometimes constructed and oriented primarily for the shadows they will project onto interior surfaces. The roof casts a shadow through which visitors must pass. This is perhaps the threshold definition that is least noticed but it is in some ways the most significant. Shadow frames and framed shadows are often reciprocations of each other. The view into a garden from inside a dark room is intensified by the circular shadow frame created by a hole in the wall whilst the same hole from outside draws attention to the mysteriousness of the dark interior.
