There are certain historical periods that resonate with a style and sophistication that is inimitable. They last for only a short, intense few years. The Restoration in England, coinciding with the florid tastes and theatricality of Japan's Genroku age, was one such period, the Belle Epoch another.
The Taisho era (1912-26) was a very special time. During the period the authorities temporarily relaxed their hold on civil conduct, a reaction perhaps to the physically and morally corrupted state of Japan's central symbol, the emperor. Unkindly portrayed as a syphilitic lunatic, the new emperor was a poor successor to his father. Enfeebled by deteriorating health and bouts of eccentric behavior, these and other negative compound factors "made him a parody of the ideal that the emperor was a 'Manifest deity.' "
The breakdown of social norms common under a dissolute head were, however, only temporary. As the shadows of militarism lengthened, the fashions and tastes of a more liberal and generous age, were deemed subversive. With the military back at the helm and a highly acquiescent new emperor in situ, Japan was once again a command-control society. Generals and officers were the new arbiters of taste, a fact evident even in art circles.