This companion post to the previous bushland studies one is concerned with exploring the pre-modern Japanese aesthetic category of the indistinct (In’ei) in an Australian context.
“In’ei” refers to the state of dimness or shadow created when direct light is blocked, but it does not mean complete darkness. Rather, it is a state of faint dimness where the presence of light can be felt. Many of these aesthetic categories belonged to Japanese high culture and the aristocratic class .
in contrast, Jun’ichiro Tanizaki In Praise of Shadows (1934) argued that “In’ei” is rooted in everyday life as its ground is its the Japanese people traditionally living under these heavy roofs of thatch or tile, and spending much of their lives in the heavy darkness that hangs beneath the eaves. Tanizaki says that Japanese people traditionally lived under these heavy roofs of thatch or tile, and spending much of their lives in the heavy darkness that hangs beneath the eaves.
