An Artist of the Floating World | Themes

An Artist of the Floating World Themes

Misplaced Loyalty

The book deals with the evolution of the Japanese cultural worldview. To the older generations, loyalty was one of the most sacred human values. Loyalty was most often demonstrated as loyalty to one's employer. However, this older form of loyalty was extreme, fierce, and often blind. Men viewed their employers as their "masters," and allowed these masters to influence their opinion in every regard. To disagree was an extreme form of treason, and men took pride in subjugating their own views to the view of the group, led by their master. This was a lot of power and influence to cede to one's employer or teacher, and not surprisingly this power was frequently misused.

Ono's generation is the bridge between this stringent loyalty and modern ideals of democracy and individual expression. In his time, Ono was both student and master. As a student, he rebelled against his master, and convinced...
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