WHITE (Hara)

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WEISS ( Japanese 白 Shiro ) is the title of a book by the designer Ken'ya Hara from 2008. The book was published in Japanese and English in one volume. In 2010 there was a translation from Japanese into German.

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Preface
Hara writes in the preface that he originally wanted to write about “the void”, but then put his thoughts on “white” in front. When it comes to white, he is not concerned with color, but rather with "white as the absence of color".
Chapter 1 "The Discovery of White"
There is no such thing as “white in itself”, but rather the receptivity to white. A white is to be presented that is interwoven in various ways with Japanese culture, connected with terms such as silence and emptiness. In his book “In Praise of the Shadow”, the writer Tanizaki starts from the dark in order to write about Japanese aesthetics, Hara starts from the light for his considerations. - In the section on color he introduces the author to the Japanese perception of color, then devotes a separate section to white. - For “white as the absence of color” he quotes the term “kizen”, for which the translator appropriately chose “not yet to be”. - In a further section, Hara states that white is the original form of life or information that emerges from chaos. White thus embodies a border area in life.
Chapter 2 "Paper"
Paper is materialized white. Paper has gone through a long development since its invention in China 2000 years ago. White and the elasticity of the paper arouses the imagination, the zeal for creation. Hara certainly uses the computer for his work, but for the actual design he has to, if he wants, touch the paper, or better - as he puts it - "ruminate" it. What is meant is that when he touches it, he calls up the numerous images he has of white from memory. For him it is about transparency and opacity, about heaviness and lightness. - In the section “Folding words”, Hara talks about the sheet of paper as a square, about the arcs, which are cut in the ratio 1: √2 and which can be folded so easily and further folded. - In the section “Characters and Letters”, Hara refers to calligraphy, which is created through expressive writing of the Chinese characters, but which can appear heavy and authoritarian. The women in Japan of the Heian period, i.e. from the 9th century, contrasted this with the syllabary hiragana , whose grass-like lines seem to dance across the paper. - This chapter concludes with explanations on typography.
Chapter 3 "The Empty Space"
In this central chapter, Hara sees an empty space in white that can be filled. One example of this is Sino-Japanese ink painting, pictures being painted with black ink on a white background. A work by the painter Hasegawa Tōhaku (1539–1610) is presented: the pair of adjustable screens “pine forest”, which is also included in the book as a picture. Pines are shown, but so that they almost dissolve into white, notes Hara. The Japanese traditionally preferred unpainted empty space to precise representation, he adds. - The original form of the Shinto shrine is also evidence that the empty space offers immeasurable possibilities, has been handed down to us. a. under construction of the Ise shrine , which without a template arises from nowhere every twenty years. - Finally, communication between Japanese people is also characterized by omission. And the national flag of Japan, branches a red circle on a white background, an empty vessel that must first be filled with a meaning. - The section on the tea ceremony begins by stating that dense ornamentation is a symbol of power. While people in Europe only revolted against power 150 years ago, in Japan this already happened in the Muromachi period, i.e. in the 15th and 16th. Century. The tea ceremony that takes place in the empty space becomes a source of imagination precisely because of this emptiness. Hara concludes with the remark that one already comes to "expression" with questions , an answer that limits yes is not necessary.
Chapter 4 "Towards White"
Hara begins with the term "suikō", which means the struggle for the correct expression. Because of the infinite nature of information, you will not achieve a "fair copy" or "completion" with it. What you have written on white paper with black ink cannot be undone, it is fixed. - For Hara, cleaning or keeping things in order is part of the white theme. He then overwrites the next paragraph with “michika”, a term that may have been coined by Hara himself. The translator has rendered the term “alienation” and it becomes clear to the text what is meant here. Hara closes with a contemplation of the silver pavilion in Kyoto under the heading "White sand and moonlight".
epilogue
In the short afterword, Hara describes the white of the falling snow in front of his window in the morning, imagining that the world of tomorrow could be semi-transparent.
thanksgiving
Acknowledgments go to everyone with whom Hara discussed various aspects of his book. He adds that the content of the first chapter partially overlaps with the previous volume “Designing Design”.
Illustrations
  • Rock garden at the Tōgudō Hall of Ginkaku-ji in Kyoto. Photographed by Ueda Yoshihiko.
  • Chōjirō I. (died 1589): Black raku tea bowl. Photographed by Ueda Yoshihiko.
  • Pair of screens from pine forest . Painted by Hasegawa Tōhaku.
  • Evergreen magnolia. Photographed by Ishimoto Yasuhiro .

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The original edition was published in Japanese by Chūō Kōron Shinsha (2008) together with an English translation. So it is aimed at both Japanese and foreigners. In summary it can be said: Hara's reflections on white and emptiness lead to an idea of Japanese aesthetics . Its starting point is white and not shadow, as with Tanizaki, but the result is also an introduction to Japanese aesthetics. While Tanizaki laments Japan's way into the modern age, this is accepted by Hara, although with reference to the volatility of the content conveyed by the Internet, this is also provided with a restriction.

Mentioned people

Remarks

  1. ↑ The ki from kizen ( 機 前 ) occurs in Japanese science / chemistry in the word pair Muki ( 無機 ) / Yūki ( 有機 ), which means “inorganic” / “organic”.
  2. ↑ In Suiko ( 推敲 ) writes Hara, is about a legend in which the Zen master and poet Jia Dao (779-834) is tormented by considering whether it would be better, "a monk expresses (sui) against the Tor ”or knock (kō) to write.
  3. ↑ Michika ( 未知 化 ) could also be translated as “back to ignorance”.
  4. ↑ The German edition is a translation of the Japanese text, which avoids the problems of a two-step translation.

expenditure

Reviews

  • The FAZ wrote: “The Japanese graphic designer Kenya Hara calls the color white a 'sign', a non-color and a possibility of not-yet-being. Hara delves deep into Japanese culture with thoughts about 'emptiness and white', silence and simplicity. "
  • John Clifford, Designer, writes: “ While I have always been a big fan of white space, I now understand white to be much more than a color. ”
  • Gian Marco Tosti: “ 'White' is not a book about colors. It is rather Kenya Haras attempt to explore the essence of 'White', which he sees as being closely related to the origin of Japanese aesthetics - symbolizing simplicity and subtlety. ”

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The color white . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . June 28, 2010, p. 26 ( faz.net ).
  2. ↑ “White” June 21, 2011.
  3. ^ Gian Marco Tosti: about Hara. In: minimalissimo, July 18, 2017.