1997 Arthur Golden: Memoirs of Geisha

The popular book

The story begins from little town called Yoroido. Chiyo, nine years old girl is being sold to geisha house. She becomes Sayuri, one of the most popular geisha in the Japan. But road to success is difficult. Hatsumomo, evil geisha of the Nitta okiya makes her life hard and causes her to lose her position and become nothing more than a maid for the okiya. However, soon Sayuri meets mysterious wealthy Chairman and independent geisha Mameha, and together they join their efforts.. reach fame.. fight against the Darth Vader.. avoid turbolasers in trench of Death Star..

The book is written by Arthur Golden, American novelist and based loosely on interviews with retired geisha Mineko Iwasaki. Golden apparently used Mineko Iwasaki's name and character without her permission, plus added some exciting stories to the book in order to attract readers, pretty much defaming Iwasaki's name. Iwasaki sued Golden for breach of contract and defamation of her character. In 2003, Golden's publisher settled with Iwasaki out of court for an undisclosed sum of money. (Basic NDA might have come handy -editorial add)

A Hollywood movie "Memoirs of Geisha" was based on the book (inside Japan known as Sayuri) but the movie disappointed audience with lame storyline and fictional characters. (and it wasn't even shot in Japan -editorial add)

Avoid with all costs

Instead - read Liza Dalby's book about geishas if you are really interested about them. If you want to read "romantic fiction", pick any of the Harlequin series book from the supermarket. This serves as a good example of what kind of image foreign people have about geishas - they are mysterious, exotic, shockingly beautiful and ofcourse, very sexy. It doesn't have much to do with Japanese culture or geisha.

The book concentrates into the some really rare sexual details of history like "mizuage" and pretty clearly suggests that geishas are nothing more than ordinary prostituties. No wonder than the Golden's breach to the contract with Iwasaki, upset her and the geisha community in Gion, who have earned their good reputation by nothing else than years of hard work.

Let's not forget the meaning of the Japanese word geisha, which means literally "cultivated person". Japanese people don't usually connect geisha to sexual things at all, and geisha is considered as a cultivator or symbol of the traditional Japan. There are very few geishas left, they say less than 200, most of them in Gion. During the early Meiji era, there was more than 70 000 geishas in Japan. This is important to remember as the today's geishas - must do the hard and important work of prevailing their reputation as well as their professional skills.

In addition to this, it's good to mention that geishas are not usually typically beautiful women, but more ordinary looking.

Mineko Iwasaki's book

Iwasaki later wrote her own autobiography, published as Geisha, A Life in the US and Geisha of Gion in the UK. The book - written by retired geisha is recommended reading. Ofcourse one might get good ideas by reading first the Golden's book and then Iwasaki's book - and comparing things portrayed.

As one of the most important qualities of geisha is loyalty to the customer, geishas are never to reveal any discussions or events with their customer. Customers privacy is number one. Geishas don't do gossip. When considering the Golden's breach to the contract - it is important to realize this.

See also: Memoirs of Geisha in IMDB.

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