Ono experiences many of these intergenerational conflicts from both sides. The novel shows intergenerational conflict in a variety of different contexts: between parents and children, teachers and students, and political elites and the young men who are sent to fight when those elites decide to declare war.

Instead, the book suggests that the issues at stake will arise over and over again, as a new generation will always come along to challenge the beliefs of those who used to make up the younger generation. Although Ono’s generation seems to have definitively lost in the intergenerational struggle over the country’s values, this can hardly be said to be the end of intergenerational conflict. This conflict becomes particularly fierce after the war, as the younger generation heaps blame on the older generation for leading the country down a disastrous path. An Artist of the Floating World portrays a society that instills the importance of respect and obedience towards elders in the young, but is, nevertheless, defined by intergenerational conflict and distrust.

Conflict between generations quotes