Some Prefer Nettles
Most Japanese traditions involve every aspect of Japanese life. These traditions have also evolved over a period of thousands of years. One common tradition that may seem very visible to outsiders is the traditional Japanese dress of the kimono. A kimono is a woven cotton undergarment. This dress was the basic dress for the Japanese until more recently where it is customary to wear the kimono just for important celebrations. These celebrations make up the many traditions within Japanese culture that aren't as visible as the kimono. It is within this part of the paper, we would like to look at the many traditions, identities and modernities in Japan and in the book, Some Prefer Nettles by Junichoro Tanizaki. Among peers, art is often overlooked and is seldom appreciated. During the end of the nineteenth century, also during the time of modern development in painting techniques, Japan entered the international world. Their culture made slight changes due to opposing virtues and renovating ideals pertaining to painting. Europe possessed many of the modernistic, innovative principles and inspired the Japanese tremendously. With the overwhelming influence of the European painting techniques, the Japanese style remained almost unaltered, yet accompanied with modernized standards. The European style migrated to Japan and imposed on the traditional and ancient methods. As a result, the patrons of the ancient style denied the effectual, European ways of artistic expression. Thus, the Japanese culture divided into two worlds: Traditional and Modern Western. Not only did European paintings inspire the Japanese, but also plays and theatrical sequences which were present in the book. Kaname and his wife went to a couple plays and he spoke of how he did not like how the characters were portrayed. "While the dramatists and novelists of the Edo period were able to create soft, lovely women, women who were likely to dissolve in tears on a man's knee, they were quite unable to
Cited: Tanizaki, Junichiro. Some Prefer Nettles. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1955.