Some Prefer Nettles

Jun’ichirō Tanizaki

In the novel Some Prefer Nettles (1928–1930), Jun’ichirō Tanizaki begins his search for the ideal woman, colliding two opposing female images and demonstrating the contradiction between the aesthetics of the Western and Eastern worlds. As the story progresses, the protagonist realizes that he is drawn to the “faceless” women traditional to Japanese culture. This novel is not only the author’s first attempt to demonstrate his loss of interest in Western aesthetics, but also his desire to describe Japan’s existential turn. Th e ending and culmination of the novel is the moment of the protagonist’s return to the bosom of traditional culture, where he finally finds a fragile harmony that combines past and present, soul and body, where he finds the peace he has been longing for.