An Artist of the Floating World tells the story of a former artist named Masuji Ono. Ono is both protagonist and narrator, and he provides a highly subjective account of the events that shaped his career, family life, and reputation, grappling with his past as he tells his story. Though the narrative leaps in and out of different periods in Ono’s life, from his first job to his childhood to his role working for the government in World-War II era Japan, the strongest linear thread revolves around the marriage of Ono’s daughter. In the years after the war, Ono works to negotiate a traditional arranged marriage for his younger daughter, Noriko. In light of a failed marriage negotiation for Noriko a year before, in which the groom’s family mysteriously pulled out at the last minute, Ono’s older daughter Setsuko suggests that he visit various old acquaintances. This way he can ensure that, if these acquaintances are interviewed about Ono and his family as part of the negotiation, they will provide positive testimony. Ono believes that Setsuko is politely telling him to find a way to make his past less of a problem, since his career before and during the war has destroyed his reputation. The exact nature of that career occupies much of the space in the novel.
Ono lays the groundwork by talking about his father, who destroyed his early paintings to prevent his son from becoming an artist and to force him instead to join the family business. Yet Ono chose to pursue his passion, and describes his first job in a factory-like studio followed by a second, more prestigious phase of his career working under an artist named Moriyama. Moriyama’s students lived together in a run-down villa, mimicking their teacher’s style, which emphasized aesthetics and technique and sought to portray the “floating world” of the city’s nighttime revelry. While becoming one of Moriyama’s favorite students, Ono was also pulled away from him through his encounter with a man named Chishu Matsuda. Matsuda, who believed that artists should engage with politics more, encouraged Ono to explore the world outside of Moriyama’s villa. He also took Ono to poor parts of town that Ono had never visited. This ignited a political awakening in Ono, who created several explicitly political paintings. When Moriyama discovered these, he refused to mentor Ono any longer.
However, the novel tells us in bits and pieces about Ono’s rise to success creating art that celebrated the “new spirit” of Japan. These works were nationalistic and portrayed military might. At the start of the war, Ono gained power working for a committee that censored unpatriotic art. He even reported on his own favorite student, Kuroda, causing Kuroda to detest his old teacher so deeply that he refuses to meet with him years later during Noriko’s marriage negotiations. In one flashback scene, Ono watches policemen burn Kuroda’s art, in an act that parallels Ono’s father’s burning of Ono’s paintings. However, Ono’s rise to power was cut short, since Japan lost the war and American troops subsequently occupied the country. It is from this period that Ono narrates. At the time of narration, he feels bitter towards the younger, more Americanized generation. He suspects that this generation hates his own generation for bringing about the war. He feels guilty not only for betraying Kuroda but for the premature deaths of his wife Michiko and his son Kenji, both of which occurred during the war.
At the end of the novel, Noriko has been successfully wed to a reputable man named Taro Saito. Setsuko tells her father that he has nothing to feel guilty about, since his paintings were well-liked but certainly not influential enough to cause harm. This is a difficult realization for Ono, since he feels genuine guilt for some of his actions, and since he would rather have a bad reputation than none at all. However, he begins to feel more fulfilled, little by little, after this conversation. When Matsuda, who has remained a friend, dies, he reacts calmly and without guilt. He recognizes features of the “floating world” in the manners of the young businessmen he once resented, and he focuses his energy on his beloved grandson, Ichiro.
