An Artist of the Floating World

In a time of hardship, artist Masuji Ono refused to paint mere beauty. Instead, he devoted his work to the imperialist cause that carried Japan into World War II.

Now older, Ono lives in the war’s shadow. As he reflects on his youth and the “floating world” of nightlife and pleasure, his memories offer both comfort and quiet accusation. Branded by society for its defeat and criticized for his past beliefs, he revisits the choices that made him at once proud and ashamed—revealing himself, above all, as deeply human.