The Aesthetics of the Japanese Lunchbox
The Makunouchi Bento, or traditional Japanese lunchbox, is a highly lacquered wooden box divided into quadrants, each of which contains different delicacies. It is also one of the most familiar images of Japan's domestic environment. When presented to the diner, the Japanese lunchbox seems straightforward enough; each of four food portions resides in its own compartment, apparently obeying a strict lunchbox geometry. So far, just food. But Kenji Ekuan reveals that a much deeper reading is...
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Kenji Ekuan uses the lunchbox as a key to an understanding of Japanese civilization, the spirit of form, and the aesthetic ideal in which the many are reduced to one. ForeWord - Shellie Williams This beautifully designed and illustrated book will challenge the average liner-thinking reader, who may find the author's poetic and at times esoteric `global' approach overwhelming. But perseverance will be rewarded... In the box's exquisite arrangement of textures, flavors and colors, Ekuan discovers connections with the Japanese landscape: a narrow slice of mountains and plains squeezed on all sides by a lapping sea... the lunchbox's ordinariness is its greatest form of salvation for in its commonplace foods and utilitarian nature we may yet live richly and with beauty.
Dazzling Nothingness - A PretextIntroduction: Joys of the Lunchbox1Pt. 1Hidden Aspects of the Lunchbox - Japanese Etiquette of the Creation of Forms111Beauty Is Function132Flexible Functionality233Equipment That Draws Out Creativity334Saving Grace of the Prototype395Pine-Bamboo-Plum - Unification in Diversity456All-Inclusive Assimilation and Structuring537Developmentality of the Lunchbox598Untrammeled Adaptability - Hypothetical Culture679Model for a Civilization of Maturity7510The Ultimate Spirit of Service - Heart of the Merchant85An Interlude91Pt. 2Lunchbox-Style Interpretation of Japanese Industry - The Lunchbox Archipelago Today9511Technology to Cope with Environment: Nature and Seasons of an Air-Conditioned Culture9712Technology of Order: The Buddhist Home Altar and the Department Store11713Technology for Quality Enhancement: Connoisseur's Guide to Soy Sauce and the Motorized Tea House12514Technology of Structuring: Products and People in the Economy / A Theory of Japanese Organization14315Technology of Aims: Goals and Receptivity in the Artificial Urban Environment15516Lifestyle Technology: Shaping Human Character and the Ideal of the Single Blossom161Conclusion: Spirit of the Lunchbox - Globalization of Japan177AppendixA Brief History of the Lunchbox187
\ From the Publisher"Ekuan argues his intriguing points with diaphanous prose." John D. Thomas Village Voice\ \ \ \ \ Shellie WilliamsThis beautifully designed and illustrated book will challenge the average liner-thinking reader, who may find the author's poetic and at times esoteric `global' approach overwhelming. But perseverance will be rewarded... In the box's exquisite arrangement of textures, flavors and colors, Ekuan discovers connections with the Japanese landscape: a narrow slice of mountains and plains squeezed on all sides by a lapping sea... the lunchbox's ordinariness is its greatest form of salvation for in its commonplace foods and utilitarian nature we may yet live richly and with beauty. \ — ForeWord\ \ \ Ted AnthonyCultural studies, once purely an academic tool, is drifting into the mainstream. By dissecting something intellectually, the theory goes, we can find meaning within. This is the theory of The Aesthetics of the Japanese Lunchbox, an unusual but ultimately highly rewarding study of said lunchbox as `both object and metaphor.'...The lunchbox is a device that induces creativity,'Ekuan writes. And that is the beauty of the best of Japanese design (things that are themselves, but are also gateways to other ideas entirely. This book is a tour of those ideas, through an unusual and innovative eye). \ — Philadelphia Tribune\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalNot surprisingly, this book is modeled on the Japanese lunchbox in both form and spirit: the reader opens the square cover and experiences a richness of content with an exquisite layout. Ekuan, Japan's foremost industrial designer and the author of seven previous books, has succeeded in explaining the essence and intersection of design and life by relating the lunchbox to all aspects of Japanese civilization. Ekuan is expert in supplying stimulating thoughts about the metaphorical meaning of the lunchbox. He compares the lunchbox to a unified-world mandala and the quadripartite structure of the lunchbox to the four seasons. A brief history is included. A delicious treat, although the print is a little too small for relaxed reading. Recommended for large art collections both in academic and research libraries.--Lucia S. Chen, NYPL\ \ \ \ \ David R. BrownThe universe, human beings' place in it, and a way to understand it -- all in a lunchbox! Only the intricate culture of Japan could have produced an idea like this; and only its Zen master of design, Kenji Ekuan, could have explained it. -- David R. Brown\ \
