Part Four

June 1950 (pp 175-184)

Ono tells of hearing of the news of Matsuda’s death yesterday, and taking a walk finds himself on the Bridge of Hesitation where he remembers his intentions of visiting Matsuda more often but that he had only visited once more since Noriko’s marriage talks.

Ono recalls the visit during which he thanked Matsuda for his letter of encouragement during his illness. Matsuda comments that Ono appears to have made a good recovery. Ono is required to use a cane for assistance but does not provide a reason for his illness. Matsuda asks after Noriko and Ono informs him that Noriko is expecting her first child and Setsuko her second. Matsuda asks if Ono is painting, to which Ono responds that he is doing water colours for his own amusement. Matsuda is glad to hear this and recalls how disillusioned Ono appeared on his last visit, declaring that Ono always wanted to ‘… so badly make a grand contribution’ (p 177). Ono returns to the comment in relation to Matsuda’s work on the China crisis campaign and they converse about their work on the New Japan campaign. Ono recalls how Matsuda used to accord him with a ‘narrow artist’s perspective’ (p 177), leading them to agree that neither of them had a broad perspective, Matsuda calling them ‘ordinary men with no special gifts of insight …’ (p 177). This is conflicting to the narrative Ono has been telling himself for the majority of the novel.

Ono looks out to Matsuda’s garden and can smell smoke, commenting that the smell still makes him uneasy, and casts his mind back to the bombings. Ono brings up for the first time his wife’s death, which occurred five years ago. Ono accompanies Matsuda while he feeds his carp. A shy neighbourhood boy peers from over the fence and watches them, something Matsuda says occurs every day and makes him wonders, perhaps signifying the gulf between their ages and of the changes that have taken place within that span.

Matsuda shares his view that his and Ono’s contribution to the war was only marginal, but Ono senses that Matsuda does still hold pride over aspects of his career despite the flaws and can look back on his life with satisfaction. It would seem important to Ono that he maintain this impression of Matsuda, the man who convinced Ono to take a new direction in his artistic career, the subsequent legacy for which Ono hopes to be remembered. Ono recalls a moment he frequently summons to his mind from May 1938, he had just been presented with an award which coincided with the finishing of their New Japan campaign and he was celebrating at the Migi-Hidari with his pupils and colleagues, who were lavishing him with speeches yet a curious lack of deep triumph and fulfillment had been missing. The expected feeling did not arrive until a few days later when he attempted to visit Mori-san. Mori-san’s reputation fell into decline when his ‘… European influence into the Utamaro tradition had come to be regarded as fundamentally unpatriotic …’ (p 180) and he was forced to take on the commercial work he had fated would befall Ono. Ono plays out various scenarios in his head of how a conversation with Mori-san would go, all of which end in Ono having achieved superior success, then when sitting on the mountain from where he could view Mori-san’s villa, he felt the satisfaction he should have felt at the Migi-Hidari and decided not to visit Mori-san.

Ono considers how few people feel the contentment he felt while sitting on the mountain, certainly not people like Shintaro and the Tortoise who didn’t rise above mediocrity, but people like Matsuda, whom he considered his equal, and that despite his last conversation with him, Ono convinces himself would have similar ‘mountain experiences’ on which he could look back and feel proud. In doing so Ono discards the comments Matsuda made which diminishes the greatness of their contributions as they do not support Ono’s view.

Returning to Ono’s walk the day he heard of Matsuda’s death, and from his vantage point on the Bridge of Hesitation, Ono surveys where the pleasure district was previously located. The area has been rebuilt and is unrecognisable with a wide concrete road, Mrs Kawakami’s bar replaced with a four story office building, the Migi-Hidari now a front yard for a group of offices. Ono sits on a bench in close proximity to where his table would have been situated in the Migi-Hidari and observes the new generation of workers, his children’s age, going about their day, talking and laughing. Ono notices the optimism and enthusiasm of the young people and feels nostalgia for the old times and how the district used to be, but appears to have crossed over to an acceptance of the changes, at last able to express hope for the nation’s future and wish the next generation success.

Part Four Quotes

‘The smell of burning still makes me uneasy’, I remarked. ‘It’s not so long ago it meant bombings and fire.’ I went on gazing out to the garden for a moment, then added: ‘Next month, it will be five years already since Michiko died.’ (Ono to Matsuda) Page 178

‘These days, a smell of burning usually means a neighbour is clearing his garden.’ (Matsuda, to Ono) Page 178

The likes of the Tortoise – the likes of Shintaro – they may plod on, competent and inoffensive, but their kind … do not know what it is to risk everything in the endeavour to rise above the mediocre. (Ono) Page 182

Although he and I often quarrelled, our approaches to life were identical, and I am confident he would have been able to look back on one or two such moments. Indeed, I am sure he was thinking along these lines when he said to me that last time we spoke, a gentle smile on his face: ‘We at least acted on what we believed and did our utmost.’ (Ono, on Matsuda) Page 182

One can only wish these young people well. (Ono, on the next generation) Page 184