Greg Harder
Outhouse takeoff
“The parlor may have its charms, but the Japanese toilet truly is a place of spiritual repose … surely there could be no better place to savor this pleasure than a Japanese toilet where, surrounded by tranquil walls and finely grained wood, one looks out upon blue skies and green leaves. … Our forbears, making poetry of everything in their lives, transformed what by rights should be the most unsanitary room in the house into a place of unsurpassed elegance, replete with fond associations with the beauties of nature.” **
These lines were written by Junichiro Tanizaki in 1933, at a time when Western inventions and values were spreading like wildfire in Japan. Should you keep reading (and the essay is not terribly long), you’ll find observations on many other customs and objects, rooted in comparisons of light and dark, clarity and subtlety. You might also pick up on the author’s frustration, and perhaps even some haughtiness. The translation could certainly have played a part in amplifying the tone, to be fair; but Tanizaki, like any writer, was a product of his place and time.
It’s easy to chuckle about the toilet, as we modern-day Westerners tend to do, if our manners let us acknowledge such bodily requirements at all. But let’s put ourselves in Tanizaki’s place for a moment:
“I love to listen from such a toilet to the sound of softly falling rain … there one can listen with such a sense of intimacy to the raindrops falling from the eaves and the trees, seeping into the earth as they wash over the base of a stone lantern and freshen the moss about the stepping stones.”
No wonder, then, that he would have been dismayed by ceramic tile, gleaming pipes, and bright lights.
I can’t imagine what Tanizaki would have thought of the urban Porta-Potty — a vulgar little hut, sprouting like a wart on the concrete — but there’s an affectionate sort of poetry in this image. We can all appreciate the muted color, the deliberate presence of nature, the carefully placed plants and those little trees (determined to leaf out, even as they struggle).
If we must visit this place at all (and let’s be honest: we hope not to), let us try to think of it as an opportunity. Someone wanted this place to be a little bit lovely, Porta-Potty notwithstanding. The orange safety cones call us to mindfulness; let’s reflect for a moment on the shadows that fall onto the pavement as cars and bikes rush by. Imagine a soft rain pattering on the metal roof, and the gentle beating of wings.
** — from In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki, 1933, trans. Thomas J. Harper and Edward G. Seidensticker. You can read the full text here.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, Jenn Wilson and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
