‘Were it not really for shadows there would be no beauty.’ In Compliment of Shadows is an eloquent tribute to the austere beauty of traditional Japanese aesthetics. Through architecture, ceramics, theatre, food, women and even toilets, Tanizaki clarifies the fact of shadows and darkness, and exactly how they are able to augment beauty.

He laments the heavy electric powered lighting of the West and its launch to Japan, and shows how the artificial, shiny and polished cosmetic of the Western contrasts unfavorably with the moody and day light of the East. Dreamy, melancholic and mystical, In Praise of Shadows is normally a haunting understanding into a overlooked world.