More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Sugimura’s name is rarely heard these days, but let me point out that not so long ago he was unquestionably one of the most influential men in the city.
Fame is fleeting
around 1920 or 1921, at the peak of his success, Sugimura decided to gamble much of his wealth and capital on a project that would allow him to leave his mark for ever on this city and its people.
All that remain today of Sugimura’s schemes are those oddly empty patches of grass where his museums and theatres would have stood.
Look on my park ye mighty and DESPAIR
she immediately begins to get unrecognizable.’
I.e. Cheerful is unrecognizable
I confess I take a strange comfort from observing children inherit these resemblances from other members of the family,
certain traits will tend to survive, like some shadow of that influence, to remain with one throughout one’s life. I
For though one would have been unable to see this from up on that path, Mori-san’s villa was in a state of considerable dilapidation.
But no one would actually say: ‘Sensei, what a marvellous painting,’ for it was somehow the convention of these occasions that we behave as though our teacher were not present.
As I recount this I am aware that Mori-san’s behaviour may strike you as somewhat arrogant. But it is perhaps easier to understand the aloofness he displayed on such occasions if one has oneself been in a position in which one is constantly looked up to and admired.
We ain't talkin bout mori
if Sasaki were to suggest a person’s painting was in any way ‘disloyal’ to our teacher, this would almost always lead to immediate capitulation on the part of the offender – who would then abandon the painting, or in some cases, burn it along with the refuse.
any competent artist who specialized in portraying pleasure district women,
through the textiles which the woman holds or wears rather than through the look on her face.
melancholy, nocturnal atmosphere
change came over Sasaki, a change that was to lead to his suffering hostility of an altogether harsher and darker nature than anything he had ever orchestrated against the Tortoise.
Sometimes, when one has nurtured a gifted pupil long and hard, it is difficult to see any such maturing of talent as anything other than treachery,
what we did to Sasaki following his dispute with our teacher was quite unwarranted, and there seems little to be gained in my recalling such things here.
‘Won’t you just tell me where the paintings are?’
:(
But what has hurt me the most has been your refusal to give me even one word of comfort.’ There was another silence.
Narratpr removes his agency from the scene
anyone who has held ambitions on a grand scale, anyone who has been in a position to achieve something large and has felt the need to impart his ideas as thoroughly as possible, will have some sympathy for the way Mori-san conducted things.
spending much time exploring the city’s ‘floating world’ – the night-time world of pleasure, entertainment and drink which formed the backdrop for all our paintings.
One regular visitor of those days was a story-teller called Maki,
Rakugo??
it was an eerie effect, as though I were sitting in some grotesque miniature cemetery.
Whoever’s in there must be in a lonely mood.’
‘He may be dressed in rags these days, but he was once quite a celebrity.
am puzzled that we artists should be devoting so much of our time enjoying the company of those like Gisaburo-san.’
His talent has gone to ruin. Those he once loved have long since died or deserted him.
Those women would tell him all the things he wanted to hear, and for the night anyway, he’d be able to believe them.
The best things, he always used to say, are put together of a night and vanish with the morning.
‘The finest, most fragile beauty an artist can hope to capture drifts within those pleasure houses after dark.
Young men are often guilt-ridden about pleasure,
such phrases sound rather more like the sort of thing I myself would declare to my own pupils
Naguchi wasn’t a bad man at all, Ichiro. He was brave to admit the mistakes he’d made. He was very brave and honourable.’
Ichiro was telling me earlier he’s keen to taste a little sake.’
Why is your grandbaby your projection repository
‘Anyway, I’ve promised him now, he’s looking forward to it. You women sometimes just don’t understand about pride.’
Ono's pride - how it inhibits him is xa theme
‘There is no doubt Father devoted the most careful thought to my brother’s upbringing. Nevertheless, in the light of what came to pass, we can perhaps see that on one or two points at least, Mother may in fact have had the more correct ideas.’
Noriko not reacting at all to her sister’s words other than to turn wearily back to her vegetables.
Lol Nori b like "mama mia here we go again"
do not on the whole greatly admire the Tortoises of this world. While one may appreciate their plodding steadiness and ability to survive, one suspects their lack of frankness, their capacity for treachery.
ono adds the element of duplicity based on his own experience
after a time, it had cemented itself into one in which he was perpetually indebted to me for some undefined ‘support’ I gave him.
Not since you were preparing “Lion-dance” for your first exhibition.’
‘Is it really so noticeable?’ I said. ‘I thought I was hiding my excitement rather well.’ ‘You must be forgetting, Ono-san. We’ve been painting side by side for almost eight years now. Oh yes, I can tell this is something quite special for you.’ ‘Eight years,’ I remarked. ‘I suppose that’s right.’
The Tortoise gestured nervously towards it and said: ‘Ono-san, is this a joke of yours?’
Omg what if ono never says what he painted and for all we know its some eldritch abomination XD
‘you are a traitor.
The painting which had so upset the Tortoise was one entitled ‘Complacency’,
Down the right-hand margin, in bold red characters, is the word ‘Complacency’; down the left-hand side, in smaller characters, is the declaration: ‘But the young are ready to fight for their dignity.’
Thats like a really trite painting tho? Lol
no doubt unsophisticated
Lol read my mind
The word ‘Complacency’ down the right-hand margin had been replaced by ‘Eyes to the Horizon!’ and on the left-hand side, the message, ‘No time for cowardly talking. Japan must go forward.’
Ono's switch from critique to propaganda
‘Take for instance, Ono, this scheme of yours. The one you were proposing so earnestly just now. It’s very touching, but if I may say so, displays all the naïveté typical of you artists.’
Echoes of remains of the day
‘There’s a certain kind of artist these days,’ he went on, ‘whose greatest talent lies in hiding away from the real world.
in times like these, when people are getting poorer, and children are growing more hungry and sick all around you, it is simply not enough for an artist to hide away somewhere, perfecting pictures of courtesans.
We simply ask that his Imperial Majesty the Emperor be restored to his rightful place as head of our state.’
Lollll
