Cover: Open Library

El elogio de la sombrasecond-hand

30 readers want to read it on Open Library

2 editions · Philosophy and religion

from€7.68cover price from €12.9541% less

11 used offers · median €13.30

Total price with shipping, checked on 6 October 2026.

A short essay on Japanese aesthetics that Tanizaki wrote in 1933. It starts from a contrast: in the West beauty has been tied to light and brightness, while traditional Japanese taste finds it in half-light, opacity and the patina of age. From there it moves through ceramics, lacquerware by candlelight, paper, the house, Nō costumes, food and even toilets.

Spoiler-free · Pecia's guide, written with AI and reviewed

Reading guide

About 2 hours of reading · Who it's for · Why people still read it · If you like it, read next
Who it's for
For readers interested in architecture, design, Japanese culture or ways of looking at everyday objects. It is a short, personal text, more observation than theory.
Why people still read it
Architects and designers such as Charles Moore, Kengo Kuma and Tadao Ando have pointed to its influence, and it has been translated into many languages. In Spanish, Siruela published it in 1994, and Satori brought out a version translated directly from the Japanese in 2016.

Written with the help of AI from Open Library, todostuslibros, and Wikipedia, without giving away the ending, and reviewed by a person.

Second-hand offers

Free from your library: it may be on eBiblio, the ebook lending service of Spain's public libraries. Look for it on eBiblio ↗

Total priceConditionBookshopView
€7.68free shippingGoodISBN 9788478442584CheapestReciclibrosView ↗
€7.69free shippingFairISBN 9788478442584HamelynView ↗
€8.46free shippingGoodISBN 9788478442584HamelynView ↗
€9.23free shippingLike newISBN 9788478442584HamelynView ↗
€12.84€11.84 + €1.00 shippingAcceptableISBN 9788478442584Librería Alonso QuijanoView ↗
€13.30€9.00 + €4.30 shippingVery goodISBN 9788478442584Els llibres de la VallroviraView ↗
€14.00€9.00 + €5.00 shippingVery goodISBN 9788478442584Paraíso LectorView ↗
€14.00free shippingUsedISBN 9788478442584Gulliver's Books Never DieView ↗
€14.99€12.49 + €2.50 shippingExcellentISBN 9788478442584La Social. Galería y LibrosView ↗
€20.49€8.49 + €12.00 shippingExcellentISBN 9788478442584LiLi - La Liberté des LivresView ↗
€22.21€14.88 + €7.33 shippingAcceptableISBN 9788478442584PBShop.store UKView ↗

Sorted by total price, shipping included, on Iberlibro. Links carry no affiliate code; if they ever do, it will say so here, and it will never change the order.

Editions (2)

The price above holds for any of them. If you need a specific one, here's its own.

Many booksellers don't state the copy's ISBN: those offers count for the book, but aren't attributed to any edition.

Video reviews

What people say about the book on YouTube, in Spanish.

We haven't picked videos for this book yet

We look for reviews in Spanish and bring them here, so you don't have to leave the page. Meanwhile, you can search for them yourself.

Search reviews on YouTube ↗

Reader reviews

From people who have it on their Pecia shelf.

No reviews yet

Reviews arrive with accounts: once you've read it, you'll be able to rate it and say what you thought from your shelf.

Tell me when it opens

Why we only look at used copies

In Spain, Law 10/2007 fixes the price of new books: the publisher sets it and shops can only take 5% off. Amazon, FNAC and your local bookshop all cost the same. The only place the price moves is second-hand.

More in Philosophy and religion