What is the floating world? Living only for the moment, turning our attention to the pleasures of the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms and the maples, singing songs, drinking wine, and diverting ourselves in just floating, floating, caring not a whit for the poverty staring us in the face, refusing to be disheartened, like a gourd floating along with the river current: this is what we call the floating world.

from A Tale of the Floating World by Asai Ryoi, about 1665 (trans. Richard Lane). Seen on a placard at the British Museum

Image: Hiroshi Yoshida, 1926