The Bridge of Hesitation

The Bridge of Hesitation is both a literal feature, it is the physical bridge which Ono crosses to get home from the city, and has several symbolic functions. First, it represents Ono’s hesitancy as he struggles between opposing forces, the past and the future, his self-image and the truth. This in turn has implications for the reader’s comprehension of the story which is vexingly at the mercy of Ono’s hesitant, oblique style of narration; at times Ono is direct and detailed, at other times obscure, revealing information in a piecemeal fashion or not at all so that the reader never feels they have all the information with which to form an opinion.

Metaphorically, the bridge symbolises the district into which it physically led before the war, the city’s pleasure district or floating world, a place for which Ono holds a special attachment, connecting him to his blooming artist years, but whose gradual transformation postwar into a district which is unrecognisable to him reminds him of his own mortality.

The bridge also functions as a colloquialism, where men would decide whether to seek the pleasures of the district or return home to their wives, a phrase which Ono hints will eventually fall out of use given it will only be of significance to those who, like him, lived in the district before the war.

The Bridge of Hesitation Quotes

…And if on reaching the foot of the hill which climbs up to my house, you pause at the Bridge of Hesitation and look back towards the remains of our old pleasure district, … you may see the line of old telegraph poles … and be able to make out the dark clusters of birds perched uncomfortably on the tops of the poles, as though awaiting the wires along which they once lined the sky… (Ono) Page 22

… the little wooden bridge still known to some who lived here before the war as ‘the Bridge of Hesitation’. We called it that because until not so long ago, crossing it would have taken you into our pleasure district, and conscience-troubled men – so it was said – were to be seen hovering there, caught between seeking an evening’s entertainment and returning home to their wives. (Ono) Pages 86-87

Smell of Burning

The smell of burning evokes for the protagonist Ono a feeling of melancholy which he appears to associate with the burning of something special and with the effects of the US bombing of his city. There are several occasions during the novel where valued artwork is destroyed by fire, first Ono’s father burns 15 year old Ono’s work, Mori-san destroys Ono’s work, although it is not literally expressed to be by fire, Mori-san’s devotion to lanterns is suggestive here, and finally, Kuroda’s art is burned after Ono reports him. Ono’s association of the smell of burning with the bombs evokes the trauma of having lost his wife, however Ono never describes his grief in this regard. At the end of the novel, the smell of burning Ono notices in Matsuda’s garden is a reappropriation which symbolises how far society has moved on from the war, in that the once value-laden symbol which held connections to the atomic bombing of Japan by US forces was now reduced to signifying the burning off of rubbish in a neighbour’s backyard.

Smell of Burning Quotes

‘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 started 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

‘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

Samurai

Samurai, Japanese warriors in the Medieval and Early Modern ages, represent Japanese sovereignty and patriotism and, to Ono, reflect his ideal version of Japan. When Ichiro pretends at being a cowboy, reflecting the influence of American culture which his father encourages, Ono tries unsuccessfully to engage his interest in Japanese alternatives such as the samurai. Ono’s propaganda work ‘Complacency’ in which three poverty-stricken boys are wielding samurai swords, and contrasted by three well-dressed politicians presented as lacking initiative, the implication is that Ono believes these boys could be impressive and powerful fighters if the Japanese leadership did not lack the political will to advance Japan.

Samurai Quotes

‘Suichi believes it’s better he likes cowboys than that he idolise people like Miyamoto Musashi [a ronin: samurai for hire]. Suichi thinks the American heroes are the better models for children now.’ (Setsuko to Ono, on Ichiro liking cowboys) Pages 29-30

For although they still stood in front of a squalid shanty hut, and their clothes were … rags, the scowls on their faces would not have been guilty, defensive scowls of little criminals caught in the act; rather, they would have worn the manly scowls of samurai warriors ready to fight. (Ono, about his painting ‘Complacency’) Page 150

Cowboys

Cowboys, as seen through Ichiro’s captivation of the American icon, represent the advancement of American influence in Japan postwar, both through military occupation and through absorption into the mainstream culture. Films about cowboys symbolise the American frontier and exemplify ideals of expansion and self-reliance, ideals that bear similarity to those of nationalist Japan and Ono’s wartime art, thus Ichiro’s preference for cowboys over Japanese icons would be especially affronting to Ono and serve as an ironic reminder to Ono of Japan’s failed attempt at imperialism.

Cowboy Quotes

‘Does he make up his own words? I was trying to listen, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying.’
‘He must have been playing cowboys. When he plays cowboys, he tries to speak English.’
‘English? Extraordinary. So that’s what it was.’ (Ono and Setsuko) Page 29

‘Suichi believes it’s better he likes cowboys than that he idolise people like Miyamoto Musashi [a ronin: samurai for hire]. Suichi thinks the American heroes are the better models for children now.’ (Setsuko to Ono, on Ichiro liking cowboys) Pages 29-30