Masuji Ono is an septuagenarian artist, reminiscing about days gone by in a world that has moved on and regards his generation with distrust and resentment for their role in promoting imperialist Japan’s war. He himself was not content with depicting nature and beauty in his art, and channeled his talents to support the imperial war machine and its propaganda engine.
Now, many years later, he feels deep-rooted guilt at his actions and his role. His younger daughter is getting married, and before the potential suitors can unearth his dark secrets, he wishes to make amends. But some wrongs are not righted easily.
A slow-paced introspective narrative, the book serves as a mouth-piece for an entire generation of Japan, and their feeling that they had let themselves and the whole nation down with their misguided actions.
The title is an allusion to the term ukiyo-e, or wood-block printing, the best known art form in Japan. The term ukiyo-e literally means ‘picture of a floating world’. It is also a reference to the changing world and rapid modernisation in post-war Japan. A good read.