A family tries to hang on to tradition as the world falls apart around them - Tanizaki

Sister #2 (Sochiko) gets a letter informing her than the unmarried Sister #4 (Taeko) is secretly meeting w/ the young photographer, Ikatoro (?) who rescued her when she was about to be swept away in the flood. Contemporary readers would say: Big deal, but for this family - The Makioka Sisters (Janichiro Tanizaki, 1943-48) this is a big deal: The sisters are one of the last, or so it seems, surviving "good" families of Osaka and they go to extraordinary lengths to maintain all social conventions, to honor the traditional Japanese arts (dance, kabuki) and dress (saris, obis), and especially marital: sisters must marry in age order, the husband must pass all sorts of scrutiny and investigation, and of course no premarital sex! The youngest sister is considered them most modern, and she pushes against convention - but maybe too much for the family and for herself. Once she confesses to Sochiko that she loves the photographer, who has no social background, the plan is to send her off to France for a year or so to study dressmaking - obviously a way to avoid problems rather than solve them. But this avoidance, and obliviousness, is at the heart of this novel; we see a dying social class clinging to the last threads of what they see as honor and dignity while the world around them is in turmoil. The trip to Europe is an absurd idea, as this is 1938, the world is on the cusp of war, even the sisters recognize the impossibility of a year in Europe. Here at about the midpoint of this 3-volume novel we get our clearest look at the background of the family: both parents died when Taeko was an infant, most of their wealth is gone, the remaining fortune is entrusted to the husband of Sister #1; he's a banker, but he and his family of 8 are suffering from poverty as they try to make a life in a cheap, crowded rental in Tokyo. He's reluctant to give any of the trust fund to Taeko for her travels and studies. And the older sisters are so worried about scandal and reputation - years ago there was an article in the newspaper about Taeko's having an affair w/ a young man - not a true account, and why would that be a news item anyway? - but they are swimming against the tide, so to speak. It's painful to watch these women try to hang on to the vestiges of a world that is crumbling into ruins all around them - as I'm sure we'll see more of in the 2nd half of this work as Japan enters the war and suffers devastation.