Article: hands and memory
hands and memory
I have always remembered the house I lived in when I was a child.
I remember the rough feel of the cedar planks on the verandah, the strange patterns of the knots on the fittings on the bathroom door, and the feel of the tatami mats made of rushes that were splintered here and there, as if it were yesterday. be able to.
The following theory is included in Junichiro Tanizaki's masterpiece, In Praise of Shadows.
When I hold a soup bowl in my hand, I like the feeling of the weight of the soup in my palm and the warm, raw taste more than anything else. It also feels like supporting the plump body of a newborn baby. There is a reason why lacquerware is still used for soup bowls, and ceramic containers cannot do the same.
A Japanese person would be able to immediately understand the meaning of the passage written by Tanizaki.
Perhaps our hands hold very deep memories. It may be the collective knowledge accumulated by humanity that goes beyond individual memories, or it may be the original experience of a single race.
The things we wear and the hands that touch them may contain memories passed down from our distant ancestors that keep us warm, protect us, and allow us to distinguish between things that will not become obsolete over time. .
Text/Photo/Inoue
