The Personal Website of Masuji Ono

Autobiography

Good day. My name is Masuji Ono, and I am a retired painter living in Japan. While my father was an accountant, I decided to become an artist. I first worked to make paintings quickly to be sold commercially, instead of creating true art. But I soon left to learn under my first art teacher, Seiji Moriyama.

As one of the most famous artists of the time, Moriyama taught me how to paint the floating world: the night world of fleeting pleasures. However, I eventually rejected this idea of creating art for art's sake to instead look to art that served a real purpose.

In turning to political art, I once told my teacher: “I have learnt much in contemplating the world of pleasure, and recognizing its fragile beauty. But I now feel it is time for me to progress to other things. . . . My conscience, Sensei, tells me I cannot remain forever an artist of the floating world” (179-180).

I started painting patriotically, creating works supporting the war. These wartime paintings created success and a prestigious reputation for me in the community. This taste of success was important to me due to my father's rejection of my paintings. I felt a certain pride in having earned this reputation.

Being retired has allowed me ample time to think over my past and reevaluate my positions. I realize that political ambition has influenced my art, and it is not without great regret that I face my past. But I have also found that, rather than patriotism, personal ambition played the largest role in my decisions.

When I took the opportunity to join Matsuda, I was seeking to fulfill my personal ambitions. And indeed, my patriotic paintings did succeed in bringing me much fame and establishing my reputation. It is this guilt that motivates me to take responsibility for what I did and to proceed with a clean slate, knowing that I have professed what I did and stood by it.

One painting that I remember clearly is entitled 'Complacency', due to my investment in it. The inspiration behind this painting came from three boys I saw while cutting across a yard with Matsuda. Another painting of mine, 'Eyes to the Horizon', was a reworking of 'Complacency'. It achieved much fame and influence. However, I admit that the sentiments expressed in this painting now outdated.

In light of the new Japan, I am not proud of my career as a political artist and my role in the production of imperialist propaganda. Indeed this art is perhaps worthy of condemnation. Yet this was done in the best of faith, and I am willing to admit my mistakes.

Often I refrain from defining a specific series of events because I have difficulty rebuilding my past from memory, which I admit can misremember things. For example, my daughters imply that I have an inflated sense of the importance of the role I played in pre-War Japan.

Looking to the future, I am genuinely glad in the way that our city has been rebuilt since the war. Although I do feel nostalgia for the past, things have recovered rapidly. Despite the mistakes of the past, we now have a new opportunity to make a better go of things. I wish the young people well.

Speeches

"Indeed, I have never at any point in my life been very aware of my own social standing, and even now, I am often surprised afresh when some event, or something someone may say, reminds me of the rather high esteem in which I am held" (19).

"For true enough, I had almost unthinkingly started a young man on a good career" (21).

"It is perhaps a sign of my advancing years that I have taken to wandering into rooms for no purpose" (40).

"But then I was never one to concern myself with matters of esteem, and this was not why the advent of the Migi-Hidari brought me so much personal satisfaction; rather, I was proud to see borne out something I had maintained for some time – namely that the new spirit of Japan was not incompatible with enjoying oneself; that is to say, there was no reason why pleasure - seeking had to go hand in hand with decadence" (64).

"So I do not think I am claiming undue credit for my younger self if I suggest my actions that day were a manifestation of a quality I came to be much respected for in later years – the ability to think and judge for myself, even if it meant going against the sway of those around me" (69).

"Of course it is not only when we are children that we are open to these small inheritances; a teacher or mentor whom one admires greatly in early adulthood will leave his mark, and indeed, long after one has come to re-evaluate, perhaps even reject, the bulk of that man's teachings, certain traits will tend to survive, like some shadow of that influence, to remain with one throughout one's life" (137).

"I suppose I 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" (159).