An Artist of the Floating World: June 1950Summary & Analysis
Summary & Analysis
Ono reflects on his recent walk across the Bridge of Hesitation. He has just learned of Matsuda's death and realises that he had intended to visit Matsuda more frequently but had only done so once since Noriko's marriage talks.
Ono feels some regret that he had not spent more
time with his old colleague, but the rest of the chapter will show that his
last visit with Matsuda has shaped his thoughts about himself and his career
just as much as earlier conversations with Matsuda did.
ACTIVE THEMES
Memory, Self-Perception, and Self-Deception
Summary & Analysis
Miss Suzuki answers the door and informs Ono that Matsuda is much stronger than he was eighteen months prior when he last visited. Ono expresses gratitude to Matsuda for writing to him during his recent illness. According to Matsuda, Ono appears to have recovered. Ono claims he is fine now, but he must use a cane.
Ono
gives no further explanation of his recent illness, leaving open the
possibility that he was so disturbed by Setsuko’s insinuation about the
insignificance of his career that he fell ill as a result. Most likely someone
in Ono’s family wrote to Matsuda to tell him of Ono’s illness in the hopes that
his influence could be helpful.
ACTIVE THEMES
Memory, Self-Perception, and Self-Deception
Summary & Analysis
Matsuda inquires about Noriko, and Ono informs him that Noriko is expecting her first child, and Setsuko is also expecting another child. Matsuda extends his congratulations to Ono.
Although
Ono has experienced the stress of conflict with both his parents and children,
the childless Matsuda reminds him that having children and grandchildren is a
lucky thing.
ACTIVE THEMES
Family Reputation, Family Secrets, and
Familial Loss
Intergenerational Conflict
Summary & Analysis
Matsuda inquires as to whether Ono is a painting. To pass the time, Ono says he's started painting flowers in watercolour. Matsuda expresses his delight and adds that Ono appeared disillusioned the last time he visited. According to Ono, this could be true. According to Matsuda, Ono has always wanted to make a significant contribution. Ono claims that Matsuda was the same way, and that they both had a lot of energy and courage.
Matsuda
is glad that Ono has not entirely given up painting, because he knows that
working as an artist brings Ono pleasure. Ono has returned to simpler
depictions of naturalistic scenes, instead of trying to bring ideological
meaning to his work.
ACTIVE THEMES
Memory, Self-Perception, and Self-Deception
The Relevance of the Artist
Summary & Analysis
Matsuda recalls Ono becoming enraged when Matsuda teased him about his limited artistic perspective. He claims that neither of them saw things clearly enough. He claims they should not blame themselves because they were simply ordinary men with no special insight.
Matsuda now admits that the nationalist message
that he convinced Ono to put into his art was a mistake. He sees both of their
contributions as insignificant to the country and its history. This perspective
clashes with what Ono has been trying to convince himself about his own past.
ACTIVE THEMES
The Relevance of the Artist
City, Nation, History
Summary & Analysis
Ono gazes out the window at the garden. He can faintly smell something burning and tells Matsuda that it makes him uneasy and reminds him of bombings. He also mentions that Michiko died five years ago next month. Matsuda believes the smoke is caused by a neighbour clearing his garden.
For
the only time in the novel, Ono brings up his wife’s death. While Matsuda sees
the smell as a sign of rebirth and new life, Ono has long convinced himself
that his career was the most important thing to him and he is only just
beginning to face his grief for losing his family during the war.
ACTIVE THEMES
Memory, Self-Perception, and Self-Deception
Family Reputation, Family Secrets, and Familial Loss
City, Nation, History
Summary & Analysis
A clock chimes and Matsuda says it is time to go feed the carps in his pond. They go outside, and Ono notices a boy of about four or five years old peering over a fence. Matsuda greets Botchan, who then disappears from view. Matsuda informs Ono that the boy visits him every day. He expresses curiosity as to what the boy finds fascinating about an old man feeding fish.
Even though Matsuda has no children of his own, he
still experiences connection with younger generations through his contact with
Botchan. Something undefined but meaningful passes between those who are at the
end of their lives and those who are at the beginning of theirs.
ACTIVE THEMES
Intergenerational Conflict
Summary & Analysis
According to Matsuda, people blame the military, politicians, and businessmen for what happened to the country, but people like himself and Ono played only a minor role. Despite Matsuda's claims, Ono believes he is not disillusioned, but recognises how much he has to be proud of. He claims they took bold steps and followed their convictions, and he believes Matsuda felt satisfied as he reflected on his life.
Matsuda
was the one who convinced Ono to turn to nationalist art. Ono tried to
subscribe to Matsuda’s beliefs, convinced that through political art he could
achieve his ambition to make a mark as an artist. Matsuda sees that their work
failed to do this, but Ono is still unable to fully admit to himself that he
wasted his talent doing something that will be forgotten.
ACTIVE THEMES
Memory, Self-Perception, and Self-Deception
The Relevance of the Artist
City, Nation, History
Summary & Analysis
Ono shifts the narrative to a proud moment in his life: in 1938, he has just completed the New Japan campaign, which is a huge success and earns him the Shigeta Foundation Award. He is toasted by his students in the Migi-Hidari, but it is not until a few days later that he feels a sense of deep fulfilment and pride. He takes a train to Wakaba with the intention of visiting Mori-san. He is certain Mori-san is aware of how much better his career has turned out than he anticipated, whereas Mori-prestige san's has declined and he is forced to illustrate popular magazines to make ends meet. Ono is curious about how Mori-san will greet him and braces himself for either a cold or warm welcome. He resolves not to address Mori-san as sensei. But when he reaches a vantage point on the mountain overlooking the villa, he sits down and eats an orange. He feels triumphant and satisfied as he looks out at the villa. He does not proceed to the villa, but instead sits in contemplation, staring at it.
At
the peak of Ono’s career, he is celebrated for his nationalist work. Notably,
Ono does not mention the larger political context: Japan’s large-scale invasion
of China. Instead, Ono is gratified because he feels like he has proven
Mori-san wrong. This feeling of satisfaction after a conflict with a teacher
mirrors Ono’s other conflict with his father. Ono is pleased with his own
interpretation of his success and decides not to threaten it with an actual
encounter with his former teacher. Instead of trying to reconnect with a person
whom he saw as a father figure, he sits looking at his old home and
contemplating his own perception of his place in the world.
ACTIVE THEMES
Memory, Self-Perception, and Self-Deception
The Relevance of the Artist
Family Reputation, Family Secrets, and Familial Loss
Intergenerational Conflict
City, Nation, History
Summary & Analysis
Most people, Ono believes, never experience this level of happiness. Certainly, the Tortoise or Shintaro would be incapable of it, because they never take any risks in order to rise above mediocrity. Ono believes that Matsuda, like him, had moments of deep pride because he acted on what he believed in.
Although
Ono followed Matsuda’s lead, he has convinced himself to believe that this was
a brave and independent act. He also refuses to accept what Matsuda told him about
how he now views their past careers, instead holding onto the self-deception
that he and Matsuda were independent thinkers who should be proud.
ACTIVE THEMES
Memory, Self-Perception, and Self-Deception
The Relevance of the Artist
Summary & Analysis
Ono walks across the Bridge of Hesitation to the area that used to be the pleasure district after learning of Matsuda's death. There is a large office building where Mrs Kawakami's once stood, and a front garden in front of another office building where the Migi-Hidari once stood. There is a bench in that yard that Ono believes is in the same location as his old table in the bar. He sometimes sits on this bench, as he is doing right now. He observes several young office workers greeting one another and takes note of their upbeat, optimistic demeanour. He recognises the same good-hearted spirit that used to reign supreme among the young office workers in the pleasure district. He believes that, despite the country's mistakes, the new generation is starting over. He sends them his best wishes.
Ono continues to closely observe how the city is
changing, but he realizes that his time has passed and the city will never be
as he knew it again. He shows signs of accepting this, as he expresses his hope
that the young office workers—who live a life similar to his children’s—will
succeed where he failed. Their optimism resembles the optimism of his
generation, however, suggesting that they may also eventually live to be
disappointed about their contributions and to delude themselves about their
pasts.
ACTIVE THEMES
Intergenerational Conflict
City, Nation, History
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