White

by Kenya Hara

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 – symbolising simplicity and subtlety. The central concepts discussed by Kenya Hara in this publication are emptiness and the absolute void. Kenya Hara also sees his work as a designer as a form of communication. Good communication has the distinction of being able to listen to each other, rather than to press one's opinion onto the opponent. Kenya Hara compares this form of communication with an “empty container”. In visual communication, there are equally signals whose signification is limited, as well as signals or symbols such as the cross or the red circle on the Japanese flag, which – like an “empty container” – permit every signification and do not limit imagination. Not alone the fact that the Japanese character for white forms a radical of the character for emptiness has prompted him the closely associate the color white with emptiness.

Genres: Design, Art, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Japan, Essays, Art Design

80 pages, Hardcover

First published May 30, 2008

About the author

Kenya Hara (born 1958) is a Japanese graphic designer and curator. He is a graduate of Musashino Art University.

Hara has been the art director of Muji since 2001 and designed the opening and closing ceremony programs of the Nagano Winter Olympic Games 1998. He published Designing Design, in which he elaborates on the importance of “emptiness” in both the visual and philosophical traditions of Japan, and its application to design. In 2008, Hara partnered with fashion label Kenzo for the launch of its men's fragrance Kenzo Power.

Hara is a leading design personality in Japan and in 2000 had his own exhibition “Re-Design: The Daily Products of the 21st Century”.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Marjan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very much like Tanizaki's In Praise of Shadows this book is also a meditation that has to be read with respect and calmness. Then each reader is invited to meditate upon the abstraction of White, not just once, but over and over again. This truly is a slow book. Like a cup of Japanese tea it is more about the journey than the destination. In other words, it is not a book to be read but a book to be experienced.

[A Ter · Rating 5 out of 5]

How refreshing it is to read something so far beyond one's normal domain of familiarity and walk away light with a new perspective.

[Ben · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised that a book about emptiness lacks content.

[Angelina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tried to read this book two times last summer but never got into it. three days ago, I went on a long walk to think through my design capstone project, ended up at BPL, and borrowed this again on a whim. tonight I watched Totoro on a big screen at Coolidge Corner Theater, and when I came back, suddenly I was ready to read this book. I think I am finally on my way to having a slowness in my work + life that I didn’t have over the summer, which is why this time went so much better. I loved this book and I know I need to think about some parts and reread.

when I opened this book again tonight (newly borrowed from the library), a checkout slip fell out from June 23, 2021, and at first I was like oh neat! because I love finding signs that library books have passed through the hands and minds of other people. then I realized that based on the dates, it was probably MY old checkout slip from the last time I took this book out, because I know I was reading it on June 25. can’t believe I found a physical snippet from a past me in this book <3

I’m taking Japanese and History of Graphic Design this semester which are the first non CS / non design studio classes I’ve taken in a while. because they’re different from my normal major classes, they’re expanding my view of art + design in ways that are completely new and unexpected & vv exciting!! History of GD talks about writing systems this week and this book talked about writing systems and language and typography and I am learning Japanese so I can begin to understand the language this book is about. realizing recently that all my interests are interconnected and influencing each other! so many things I thought were unrelated are all coalescing recently and it is all very very exciting! reading this book now was exactly the right time <3

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

White is more than a colour. White is a system of aesthetics, it is the symbol of simplicity and subtlety that through Kenya Hara's brief but enlightening book embody the key concepts of Japanese design.

In a similar vein to Tanizaki's In Praise of Shadows (both books are short medidations on aesthetics and life), you slowly absorb Hara's prose much like good paper absorbs good ink, letting the idea, the concept of what White really is surround you. This can be read in a single sitting very easily, but you would not fully appreciate what Hara is talking about. It is slow journey exploring how symbols work and how we engage with them.

The chapters on colour, typography, and paper are interesting, giving new insights into these - especially from a design and a Japanese perspective. The chapters on emptiness, though written from a purely Japanese point of view, challenge your ideas on what White is. A worthy addition to that small but growing body of short works about Japanese design/aesthetics.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't excited by this book...It's a petty, because i expected to be a great book, but in contrary with Tanizaki's "in praise of shadows", i wasn't really touched...

[Saturn V. · Rating 5 out of 5]

white.
emptiness.
spirituality.
Japanese aesthetics.
design.
paper.
tradition.
typography.
age.
purity.


“Monotonous Space”

a white square
within it
a white square
within it
a white square
within it
a white square
within it
a white square
within it

- Kitasono Katue (1902-1978)

[Margaryta · Rating 4 out of 5]

"White" is one of those books I plan to revisit and reread over time, much like Junichiro Tanizaki's "In Praise of Shadows". Hara's words should be taken with a grain of salt - he isn't exactly writing as an academic, nor is his book entirely a personal essay that is focused on self-reflection. It is a combination of the two, and it is certainly no surprise that he privileged Japanese culture in telling his narrative. Depending on the reader, this will either be a negative or a positive, and I personally didn't mind his approach. The book was as meditative as Hara's writing style and discussing on white and whiteness. True, he didn't say anything that novel, but he has a way with weaving a well-paced and engaging narrative, and that was all I was truly looking for when I originally picked the book up - everything else was an added bonus.

[Partof Shan · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my opinion this book would be nicer in original. The English translation is ok, just there are too many Japanese words and culture in it, it doesn’t feel like a book but an explanation of a book.
And the Japanese/Chinese culture I understand, because I am Chinese. But the way to tell the philosophy is very dry. (It is like I just want to tell whatever cross my mind or whatever I understand I don’t care if my writing could inspire my readers.)
The book is a beautifully designed book. I bought it in Vitra Museum.
28th April 2020, in Stuttgart

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This refreshing meditation on the communication of receptiveness through deliberate emptiness brings me a thoughtful joy.

[Yoonho Choi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not so impressed. His ideas are often over-spiritual, and sometimes biased as a Japanese.

[Chris Beiser · Rating 4 out of 5]

More word-poem than treatise. The best endorsement I can give is that the whole time I was reading, my mind was full of bursts of the most beautiful, vivid colors.

[Chris Stavitsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unless you're a designer (I'm not), you may not have heard of the author. But if I tell you he's been the art director of Muji since 2001, does that make you perk up a little?

'White', Hara explains, doesn't just mean 'the color white', but rather 'a concept called white'. This concept is closely tied to emptiness; apparently the Japanese character for 'white' is one of two characters used in the word for 'empty'.

Hara has a few interpretations of 'white.' The primary one is something along the lines of 'leaving space deliberately empty can suggest the possibility that something might fill that empty space.'

The examples Hara uses are mainly rooted in Japanese aesthetics. 'White' does exist elsewhere, but his argument that it's built into traditional Japanese culture is compelling. Not that I'm at all qualified about traditional Japanese culture and history -- I was just able to follow his line of thought and was persuaded.

Hara's examples include:

- paper (the blank white page)
- a Japanese painting, Pine Trees (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8...)
- the construction of Shinto shrines
- the rites and setting of the traditional Japanese tea ceremony
- social practices built into Japanese culture (i.e. the way Japanese build consensus without speaking of it directly)

This is a pretty short book. I read it thoroughly once and skimmed it a second time to let things sink in. I would recommend rereading or at least skimming the earlier chapters again once you're done. It does seem like a good reference book, the kind you could come back to in the future.

Equal parts thought-provoking and wtf-is-he-talking-about. Some parts are cryptic and a little pretentious, but it's not a big deal.

[Wyncy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I expected this book to discuss about the different shades of white and its various uses, but it has taught me so much more. It discusses about how “emptiness” and “subtlety” are so ingrained in the Japanese culture that it influences every aspect of the Japanese way of living, from its religious rituals, art, architecture, to language and communication.

As a fellow learner of the Japanese language, I often struggle to keep up with conversations between natives who leave out the 主語 (subject). They don’t do it intentionally, it’s just a common understanding shared between them. And once you’ve missed it, you find yourself backpaddling in the air, trying to piece bits of information together to form a picture. (And there’s a chance that your guesses are wrong. So don’t be shy, just ask!)

I remember being a part of a conversation about “someone” causing “some unspecified trouble” that resulted in “that same person or someone else” being sent to the hospital. That discussion went on for 10mins. My confusion outlasted that.

“KY” was a popular internet phrase that is short form for 空気読めない (Kuuki Yomenai), which literally means the inability to read the air or to understand the situation. In other words, it is the lack of awareness of the “emptiness” and subtleties in Japanese communication. Even though this is not the main point of this book, it has certainly helped me in recognizing that.

[Nikolay Edigaryev · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was nice to to learn something unique about the Japanese culture (for example, how the Shinto shrine uses emptiness to let the gods enter it), but overall this book felt like a bunch of loosely-related concepts snapped together with no clear end goal and/or vision.

Something to think about the design of the book itself: it discusses "Pine Trees" painting on page 036, but completely fails to mention (e.g. give a reference or a hint) that there's a quality reproduction of this painting available at the end of the very same book.

[Dominic Leong · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating myriad of persepctives on the concept of whiteness, with many different examples illustrating each of these perspectives.

In this book, Hara attempts to accentuate the value of nothingness, of the lack of being, of emptiness, by presenting many areas whereby this perceived lacking of substance ironically makes the item in question much more desirable. To exemplify this, he brings up a plethora of interesting examples from Ancient Chinese paintings, to the "whiteness" of paper, to the emptiness of vessels.

A worthwhile philosphical read that isn't too deep!

[Jason Baer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A meditation on form and emptiness, this is Kenya Hara’s love poem to the promise and potential embodied by the color white. In select moments, Hara’s writing shines with the luminescence and stillness of a sacred Japanese aesthetic, like moonglow on the white sands of a Zen garden; other times he lingers too long on topics, like typography, that are only loosely connected with his broader theme, his tone turning dry and academic. But there is no right way to write this book, or to read it, and I love living in a world full of the contemplative possibility as the one Hara presents to us.

[CORSAK fan · Rating 5 out of 5]

White is not only a color, it is a system of interpretations and expressions that form from absence. We are invited to reflect on this during the essay collection, one which asks for slow contemplation instead of hasty agreement. We are made to think of white and whiteness in a different way through the bringing together of some philosophy, some design theory, and some art history that seeks to help us understand that sometimes the so-called emptiness of white can also contain the most fullness and the highest amount of completeness when approached in the right settings.

[Taylor Cerafice · Rating 3 out of 5]

white proves to be more than a color. but then what is it? a system of aesthetics, a symbol of simplicity? as hara states the best questions have no real answers. just as a one would approach a japanese tea ceremony this book is to be approached with a deep calmness hard to replicate artificially. as it explores the culture around many aspects of japanese design such as typography or the flag. but also low key the book was just ok. he is great with words.

[René Toet · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 'White' the chapters on color, information, paper and typograhy are interesting and induce new perceptions/reflections on those topics. However, the chapter on emptiness is writtten from a (purely) Japanese perspective, in which a cultural divide is clearly present -- between Japanese and (northwestern) European thought and communication systems. The chasm is too wide (for me) to bridge.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find Kenya Hara's books on design part meditation fodder and part an active framing of the world around you from that point onward. White fit this pattern. I would read a page or five and somewhere in reading found I had set the book down and was deep in thought doing other things (I deeply appreciate books like this).

[Layali · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sound of piano playing in the background.. with enough sun rays and breeze from the window made good companions to such a book that demands calmness and tranquility so as to really delve deep into its zen.
I was glad to read Wabi-Sabi before I’ve read this one.
I shall revisit it and understand it once more in years to come

[Gieddrele · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book I have never thought I will come across or that I would ever read something similar. Haven’t read anything like that before. Japanese aesthetics and feeling the whiteness makes your head turn.

Such a small book but you better let yourself to read only a couple of pages every day to feel the book fully without any rush 👌

[JP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and an interesting proposition to view the shade white as “kizen”. At some points it was unclear what the author is trying to say overall and how their argument is supported, like with the excursion on font and at other times it was clearly a little pretentious. I still enjoyed the read as it was well written and a very different perspective.

[RedSycamore · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is presented as a psychological and philosophical exploration of 'white', often as it relates to design and communication and especially in the context of Japanese culture. However, the actual content presented skews heavily toward emotional perceptions and personal conflations to the point that any 'conclusions' reached border on outright mysticism.

[Pati です · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me ha gustado la parte más practica donde explica ka simbología de varios escenarios en la cultura japonesa. Sin embargo la estructuración de los contenidos y las descripciones abstractas, especialmente de la primera parte, me ha parecido confuso y se hacia la lectura muy pesada y difícil de seguir.

[cantread26 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had a really hard time getting into this it was very...floaty? I think Hara presents some pleasant concepts but to me it felt like a stretch to truly encapsulate all he was talking about under the entity of "white".

My favorite anology in the whole book was that white is like an empty bowl.

[Rebecca]

I think I would have enjoyed this more if I had a better background in Japanese history and culture. Certain things could have benefitted from more explanation or diagrams such as the part discussing different forms of Japanese calligraphy.

[Annie Su · Rating 5 out of 5]

a good survey of the color white, emptiness, japanese aesthetics and its relation to japanese culture, and more broadly, design and all the little things. with that, I'm now ready to read the expansion pack! (designing design by kenya hara)

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really appreciated the context and depth of 'White' and the experience of flipping through this book, if that even makes sense. I loved the book jacket, the way the paper feels in my hand, the typeface that was chosen. Everything about this book felt like an experience.