"There
are no doubt all sorts of reasons--climate, building materials--for
the deep Japanese eaves. The fact that we did not use glass, concrete,
and bricks, for instance, made a low roof necessary to keep off the
driving wind and rain. A light room would no doubt have been more
convenient for us, too, than a dark room. The quality that we call
beauty, however, must always grow from the realities of life, and
our ancestors, forced to live in dark rooms, presently came to discover
beauty in shadows, ultimately to guide shadows towards beauty's ends."