Ono

The final chapter of 'An Artist of the Floating World'. The ageing artist, Ono, is reminiscing with an old colleague, the both of them hobbling along on walking sticks:

"For the likes of us, Ono, our contribution was always marginal. No one cares now what the likes of you and me once did. They look at us and see only two old men with their sticks."

Undaunted, Ono continues to revisit old haunts, and heads towards the villa in which he learnt his craft:

"As I sat there, looking down at the villa, a deep sense of triumph and satisfaction began to rise within me......It was a profound sense of happiness deriving from the conviction that one's efforts have been justified; that the hard work undertaken, the doubts overcome, have all been worthwhile, that one has achieved something of real value and distinction."

And it is this moment, not the career he is looking back on, that makes him content;

"For however one may come in later years to reassess one's achievements, it is always a consolation to know that one's life has contained a moment or two of real satisfaction such as I experienced that day up on that high mountain path."

Satisfaction is deferred, the moment it arrives is when contentment sets in, and we shall all be old men with our sticks.