Part Three

November 1949 (pp 114-174)

The reader is oriented to November 1949 with Ono recalling his first meeting with Dr Saito, sixteen years ago. Ono had just moved into his new house and was adjusting his gate when Dr Saito approached him and introduced himself, expressing his honour to have an artist of such stature in the neighbourhood. Following this, Ono remembers greeting Dr Saito whenever they ran into each other and thus was surprised when Setsuko shared with him, while he and she were walking through Kawabe Park, that Dr Saito had not known Ono until the marriage negotiations. He dwells on this and his need to defend himself for doing so indicates it is a shock to him.

Ono digresses to talk about the history of Kawabe Park and Akira Sugimura’s (the man who built Ono’s house) large scale plans for the park which never reached fruition for financial reasons. Through Ono’s admiration for Sugimura, who he accords with courage for having aspired ‘to rise above the mediocre’ (p 117) despite having failed, it seems he is articulating the blueprint for the legacy by which he wishes to be known.

At the park, Ono and Setsuko meet up with Noriko and Ichiro, Ono then taking Ichiro for lunch while the sisters shop. At the cafeteria Ichiro insists on ordering spinach. Ono notices how much Ichiro has grown and, noting traits he has received from both his parents, notices the similarity Ichiro bears to his late son Kenji. Surprisingly, given his proclivity towards digressions, Ono adds no further detail on Kenji and instead goes on to speak of the mannerisms he himself adopted from his teacher, Mori-San, and how he hopes his own pupils will likewise have inherited traits from Ono even if they have since rejected his teachings. Ono seems to be reassessing his reputation, weighing up the degree of influence he exerted, in light of Setsuko’s comments that Dr Saito had been unfamiliar with Ono’s work.

Ono reflects on the seven years he lived and studied with Mori-san, remembering Mori-san’s style of instruction in which he encouraged his students to debate rather than simply transfer his own theories. Given the master’s minimal feedback, Ono remembers how the students would look to a pupil named Sasaki, Mori-san’s leading pupil, for feedback as to how their work measured up to Mori-san’s teachings or whether it was ‘disloyal’ (p 123). Tortoise had trouble grasping the principles of Mori-san’s style which was a modernisation of the Utamaro tradition (named for Kitagawa Utamaro; 18th century artist known for his woodblock prints and paintings of beautiful women) which incorporated European techniques such as blocks of colour, shading and subdued colours to create a three dimensional appearance and with the addition of a lantern ‘to evoke a certain melancholy, nocturnal atmosphere around his women …’ (p 124). During this time, Sasaki has a change of artistic focus for which his paintings are confiscated and he is banished from Mori-san’s villa. The students, regarding him as a traitor, refuse to speak with Sasaki, as does Ono, from whom Sasaki desperately seeks a word of comfort before leaving. The break in Sasaki and Mori-san’s teacher-student relationship parallels that of Kuroda and Ono’s, with Ono’s advocating of the strict adherence to Mori-san’s principles which Mori-san demanded seeming to be a justification for the similar conditions he imposed upon his own students.

Ono recalls that Mori-san’s influence over his students extended to him encouraging them to patron the floating world, since this was the focus of their work. Ironically, this lead to the depraved existence of which Ono’s father predicted would befall Ono as an artist. One evening, both having left the party to get some fresh air in the storeroom, Mori-san and Ono talk and Ono shares how he feels they’ve been associating with entertainers a lot lately. Mori-san reviews some of his own early artwork and regards them as flawed, though feels a sense of affection for them as his early works. He puts to Ono the idea that he will feel the same then expounds that the finest beauty in the world is found in pleasure houses but the problem when he was young was that he was guilt-ridden and did not value the floating world, viewing pleasure-seeking as wasteful and decadent. Ono says this may also be true for himself, however Mori-san doesn’t respond, instead affirming he no longer holds doubts and sharing his self-assurance that on looking back on his life’s work of attempting to capture the floating world, he will feel satisfied. While Ono admits he doesn’t remember if these were Mori-san’s exact words, as he can recall saying something similar to his own students at the Migi-Hidari, the retelling links to the narrative of Ono’s own life which he is revising; the emphasis on capturing a moment in time suggests that if Ono can view his work as anchored in a point of time he likewise need not feel any guilt, instead he can take pride that his art served the function for which he intended, and consequently he can look back on his legacy with satisfaction.

Back to Ono’s account of the lunch with his grandson, Ichiro eats his spinach and pounds his chest, imitating Popeye the Sailor, demonstrating again his captivation with American icons. Ono had thought Ichiro was pretending to be a man drinking sake, and this ensues to a bonding moment in which Ono says he will allow Ichiro a little sake at dinner, sharing that at eight years old, Ichiro is the age at which Ono had allowed his son Kenji to taste sake. Ichiro expects his mother may have something to say about it however Ono believes he will be able to handle her – ‘We can’t have the women bossing us around now, can we?’ (p 136).

Ichiro asks his grandfather if he knew a man named Yukio Naguchi, Ono assuming Ichiro heard the adults discussing him at supper the previous night, and whether he had been similar to Ono. Ono tells Ichiro about Naguchi, a composer whose songs were sung all over Japan during the war, but who after the war felt he should apologise to all those who lost loved ones, so he killed himself. Ono adds that he felt Naguchi was brave and honorable for admitting his mistakes. Ono says he once told Noriko’s husband, Taro, (the first reference to the Noriko and Taro having been successfully married) that Ono saw himself as similar to Naguchi, and which the adults must have mentioned in front of Ichiro who now seemed worried. That Ono compares his wartime influence to that of the prominent Naguchi and his favourable review on the man’s suicide as a means of atonement and apology, would naturally have the family worried as to Ono’s intentions. Somewhere along the way Ono has revised his views on suicide when compared to the ‘wasted life’ he labelled Jiro Miyake’s company president’s suicide earlier in the novel.

At supper, Ono announces to his daughters that he will be giving Ichiro some sake to taste. His daughters discourage the idea, and when Ono brings up how he had given some to Kenji at the same age, Setsuko becomes more direct stating that while Ono gave attention to Kenji’s upbringing, ‘in light of what came to pass’ (p 140), their mother may have had the ‘more correct ideas’ (p 140). If Ono knows to what Setsuko is referring he doesn’t explain it, and while Ono admits his recall for the conversation may be faulty, he also leaves out of the narrative ‘insinuations Setsuko had been making in Kawabe Park earlier that same day’ (p 140).

At dinner, Taro shares a story about a colleague they’ve named ‘the Tortoise’, which has Ono enthusiastically recounting that he had a colleague who was similarly nicknamed. Taro says that every group has a Tortoise and returns to his story. Meanwhile, Ono digresses to the internal narration of his life, concluding that Tortoises were unwilling ‘…to take chances in the name of ambition or for the sake of a principle they claim to believe in’ (p 141) and as such they ‘…will never fall victim to the sort of grand catastrophe that, say, Akira Sugimura suffered over Kawabe Park …’ (p 141) or ‘… accomplish anything above the mediocre’ (p 142). In his ongoing pursuit of a legacy in which he will have no regret, Ono contrasts himself against Shintaro and Tortoise, whom he has cast in the negative, and aligns himself with the likes of Akira Sugimura.

Ono digresses to the time when he and the Tortoise worked under Mori-San and of the Tortoise’s gratitude toward Ono for having helped him secure the position. Tortoise is aware of a special painting on which Ono was experimenting with intensity and privacy. When the Tortoise views Ono’s painting, ‘Complacency’, which did not agree with Mori-san’s principles, he asks if it is a joke and calls Ono a traitor. The painting was inspired when Matsuda took Ono to see the poverty and squalor of a shantytown, a reality the decadent life in Mori-san’s villa had sheltered Ono from, and drew his attention to how art could draw attention to social and political problems and inspire change. The view from the bridge to the shantytown, juxtaposes the view to the pleasure district/floating town from the Bridge of Hesitation.

The painting was a contrast of three boys Ono had observed in the shantytown to be torturing an animal, but instead of portraying them as cruel he depicts them as brave ‘…samurai warriors ready to fight …’ (p 150) and above them, ‘three fat, well-dressed men sitting in a comfortable bar laughing …’ (p 150) positioned within the coastline of the Japanese islands. Ono reworked the piece into the 1930s print, ‘Eyes to the Horizon’, which contrasted the same subjects, bounded within the Japanese coastline, but this time the men resembled three prominent politicians of the time who ‘wore nervous expressions’ (p 150), while the three poverty stricken boys had become ‘stern-faced soldiers’ (p 150), the poverty behind them replaced with the military flag of the rising sun and with the addition of the propagandistic message compelling Japan to invade other countries: ‘No time for cowardly talking. Japan must go forward’ (p 151). Ono brings this up to highlight Matsuda’s great influence on his subsequent career, and sheds no further light as to his understanding of the political ideology, instead focusing on his artistic merits in capturing the political message.

Ono recalls another conversation with Matsuda when drinking at a bar in a city slum area, Matsuda calls Ono naïve for suggesting he could use the sale of his paintings to raise money for the poor. He further reveals Ono’s naivety for being unfamiliar with Karl Marx (German philosopher whose social theories became central to Communism) and proceeds to expound his view that Japan is headed for crisis under the mismanagement of ‘greedy businessmen and weak politicians’ (p 154) who want to ensure that poverty increases, and that the Okada-Shingen Society ‘…was concerned to wake up artists and introduce them to the real world’ (p 154), enabling them to ‘… produce work of genuine value for these difficult times’ (p 154). Ono limits the artist’s role to capturing beauty and doesn’t understand how this could achieve societal change, to which Matsuda responds that he would be joined by many others from all corners of society who are calling for a restoration of Japan’s emperor and for Japan to establish itself as an empire in the region, like the British and French had done.

In a return to the Tortoise’s appraisal of Ono’s painting ‘Complacency’, Ono shares that the Tortoise was probably outraged because the painting did not meet Mori-san’s imperatives, not at the political message it contained. Ono moves to recount his last talk with Mori-san in Takami Gardens, a spot which would remain a favourite with Ono for many years until it was destroyed in the war. When Ono shares that some of his paintings are missing, a parallel to the confiscation of Sasaki’s paintings, Mori-san says he has them and that it seemed Ono was ‘exploring curious avenues’ (p 159). Ono digresses as to whether these were the actual words Mori-san used, recollecting having used the same words with Kuroda. Mori-san agrees that some experimentation in art is useful but Ono responds with the conviction that this has been his best art yet. Mori-san mirrors Ono’s father’s request, enquiring as to other pieces Ono is withholding, and wishing to see them. Ono is unwilling to bring Mori-san the paintings, which culminates in the termination of their working relationship. Ono attempts to explain his new ideas as independent, although they clearly emulate Matsuda’s instruction. Mori-san reassures Ono that his talent will ensure he can work commercially ‘illustrating magazines and comic books’ (p 161) even if it means ‘the end of your [his] development as a serious artist’ (p 161). Ono concedes that his teacher’s reaction may have been excusable but should be regretted.

The reader is finally brought to the story of Kuroda. Ono recalls visiting Kuroda’s house in the winter and notices the smell of burning. He is met by a police officer who informs him that Kuroda is being questioned at police headquarters. Ono introduces himself as ‘the artist and member of the Cultural Committee of the Interior Department … an official adviser to the Committee of Unpatriotic Activities’ (p 163) who alerted the police to Kuroda when his paintings diverged from Ono’s priorities. Ono is directed outside to where Kuroda’s paintings were being burned on a bonfire. Ono assumed Kuroda would have received a simple talking-to and asked the officer whether he had authorisation to burn the paintings, as many fine pieces were among them. The officer says they’ve taken a sample and are burning the rest of the ‘unpatriotic trash’ (p 164). Ono is unbelieving of what his actions have caused and attempts to intervene with the officers’ interrogation of Mrs Kuroda, but is formally escorted out of the home.

Back to the family dinner at Noriko’s home, Ono restrains any display of guilt over his involvement in Kuroda’s arrest and subsequent imprisonment by according his story ‘of limited relevance here’ (p 165), and instead shares about Taro’s amusing stories from work and of his own discomfort on seeing Ichiro watch the sake bottle each time it is poured. Setsuko points out, from conversing with Noriko, that Taro’s workplace seems to be a stimulating environment and the conversation centres around the optimism both Taro, and from Setsuko’s account of Suichi, both feel in being fortunate to work in companies that have capable leadership. Ono interjects to question Taro as to whether all the sweeping post-war changes for the company have been good, mentioning how much of the all management is gone and whether Japan has not followed too hastily the American influence. While Taro concedes the changes have occurred quickly he confirms he and all his former classmates agree the changes are positive, especially in the area of democracy and individual rights. Setsuko confirms this agrees with Suichi’s experiences that ‘after four years of confusion, our country has finally set its sights on its future’ (p 167). Ono suspects Setsuko’s comments to be directed at him.

In the middle of the conversation, Ichiro reaches for the sake bottle and Taro distracts him with the question of what he wants to be when he grows up, to which Ichiro enthusiastically responds, the president of Nippon Electrics. At this point, Ono notices that Ichiro no longer appears preoccupied with the sake, and from then appears to enjoy himself, perhaps from being included in the adult talk. When he asks at the end of the night if the sake is all gone, Ichiro accepts this well-manneredly.

Later, when Ono goes to speak with Ichiro in his room, he verbalises empathy for what he perceives is Ichiro’s disappointment at not being able to try his first sake but Ichiro appears unconcerned. Ichiro senses his grandfather’s loss of power and respect, and innocently reciprocates Ono’s attempt at empathy, telling Ono: ‘Sometimes at home, Father wants to do something and Mother tells him it’s not allowed. Sometimes, even Father’s no match for Mother’ (p 169).

While he waits in Ichiro’s room until he falls asleep, Ono reflects on the conversation he had with Setsuko in the park earlier and becomes irritated, though leaves the reason unstated. When he rejoins the adults, Ono shares with Taro how it was a shame that Ono and Taro’s father were acquainted for sixteen years, ‘connected as we both were with the art world, we knew of each other by reputation’ (p 170), and yet only became good friends in the last year. Taro agrees and Ono looks to Setsuko to ensure she is listening, but the topic seems of no significance to her. Ono consequently reflects on his conversation with Setsuko in the park and how pleased she was on Noriko’s successful marriage. Ono agrees and thanks Setsuko for all she did, making mention of the advice she had given that he take precautionary steps, which he had followed. Setsuko says she does not know what her father is referring to but that Noriko had mentioned Ono’s behaviour at the miai to her in a letter, behaviour which had puzzled Noriko, the Saitos, and Suichi when she read Noriko’s letter to him. Setsuko’s inability to recall any advice she gave casts doubt on whether the conversation took place; Ono may have embellished a more benign version of a conversation into his personal narrative.

Setsuko brings up with Ono his words to Taro about Yukio Naguchi and how the comparison Ono was drawing with the man was concerning. Ono assures Setsuko he is not contemplating suicide. Setsuko gives her perspective that her father was a splendid painter but that his work had nothing to do with larger matters and his career was irrelevant to the marriage negotiations. These comments threaten Ono’s self-belief; if Ono has nothing to feel guilty about, Ono’s wartime contribution may not be as significant as he assumed it to be. Setsuko continues on about Dr Saito’s puzzlement at Ono’s behaviour at the miai, and when Ono wants to make clear that Dr Saito has been aware of Ono and his career over the sixteen hears, Setsuko responds that while they were neighbours, Dr Saito was unaware that Ono was connected with the art world until the last year. This casts unreliability on the encounter Ono recalls when he first moved into his house and Dr Saito met him at the gate, expressing joy that an artist of Ono’s stature was to be his neighbour.

Part Three Quotes

For indeed, a man who aspires to rise above the mediocre, to be something more than ordinary, surely deserves admiration, even if in the end he fails and loses a fortune on account of his ambitions. (Ono) Page 117

If one has failed only where others have not had the courage or will to try, there is a consolation – indeed, a deep satisfaction- to be gained from this observation when looking back over one’s life. (Ono) Page 117

‘The finest, most fragile beauty an artist can hope to capture drifts within those pleasure houses after dark … But as for those pictures up there, they don’t even hint at these transitory, illusory qualities.’ (Mori-san) Page 133

‘I suspect the reason I couldn’t celebrate the floating world was that I couldn’t bring myself to believe in its worth. …to spend one’s skills celebrating things so intangible and transient, I suppose I thought it all rather wasteful, all rather decadent. It’s hard to appreciate the beauty of a world when one doubts its very validity.’ (Mori-san) Page 133

‘When I am an old man, when I look back over my life and see I have devoted it to the task of capturing the unique beauty of that world. I believe I will be well satisfied and no man will make me believe I’ve wasted my time.’ It is possible …that Mori-san did not use those exact words …such phrases sound rather more like the sort of thing I myself would declare … (Ono) Page 133

‘… When he [Ono’s late son, Kenji] was your age, he was as big and strong as you are now. I remember he had his first taste of sake at around your age. I’ll see to it, Ichiro, you get a small taste tonight.’
Ichiro seemed to consider this for a moment. Then he said: ‘Mother might be trouble.’ (Ono and Ichiro) Page 136

‘… after the war, Mr Naguchi thought his songs had been … a mistake. He thought of all the people who had been killed,… … he wanted to say sorry. I think that’s why he killed himself. He was brave to admit the mistakes he’d made. He was very brave and honourable.’ (Ono to Ichiro) Pages 137-138

‘Your eyes are indeed far from open, Ono, if you believe a little good-hearted charity can help the poor of our country. The truth is, Japan is headed for crisis. We are in the hands of greedy businessmen and weak politicians. Such people will see to it poverty grows every day. Unless, that is, we the emerging generation, take action.’ (Matsuda to Ono) Page 154

‘But I’m no political agitator, Ono. My concern is with art. And with artists like you. Talented young artists, not yet irreversibly blinkered by that enclosed little world you all inhabit. The Okada-Shingen [Society] exists to help the likes of you open your eyes and produce work of genuine value for these difficult times.’ (Matsuda to Ono) Page 154

All he would have recognised was that it represented a blatant disregard for Mori-san’s priorities; abandoned had been the school’s collective endeavour to capture the fragile lantern light of the pleasure world; bold calligraphy and been introduced to complement the visual impact … (Ono, on the Tortoise’s appraisal of his ‘Complacency’ painting) Page 156

Of course, he may well not have used that precise phrase, ‘exploring curious avenues’. For it occurs to me that expression was one I myself tended to use frequently in later years and it may well be that I am remembering my own words to Kuroda on that later occasion in that same pavilion. (Ono) Page 159

‘Sensei, it is my belief that in such troubled times as these, artists must learn to value something more tangible than those pleasurable things that disappear with the morning light. It is not necessary that artists always occupy a decadent and enclosed world. My conscience, Sensei, tells me I cannot remain forever an artist of the floating world.’ (Ono’s last conversation with Mori-san) Page 161

‘I had no idea,’ I said, ‘something like this would happen. I merely suggested to the committee someone come round and give Mr Kuroda a talking-to for his own good.’ I stared again at the smouldering pile in the middle of the yard. ‘It was quite unnecessary to burn those. There were many fine works amongst them.’ (Ono and the police officer on the burning of Kuroda’s paintings) Page 164

‘…We feel very optimistic about the future. Within the next ten years, provided we all do our best, KNC should be a name recognised not just all over Japan but all over the world … ‘ (Taro, about this firm) Page 166

‘In fact, Father, just the other week I attended a reunion dinner of my school graduation year and for the first time since the surrender, all those present from every walk of life were expressing optimism for the future.’ (Taro) Page 167

‘Father painted some splendid pictures, and was no doubt most influential amongst other such painters. But Father’s work had hardly to do with these larger matters of which we are speaking. Father was simply a painter. He must stop believing he has done some great wrong.’ (Setsuko to Ono) Page 173