Memoirs

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Geisha are traditional, female Japanese entertainers whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance. Many Westerners mistake geisha for common prostitutes, but true geisha are paid to entertain, not to engage in paid sexual relationships with their clients. Why am I telling you all of this? First off, you probably didn’t know what a geisha was. Secondly, I love definitions, as I’m sure you can tell.

Memoirs is the story of Sayuri, a geisha who lived and worked during the Great Depression and then again after World War II. Sauyuri starts off known as Chiyo (it is customary to change one’s name when one becomes a geisha), a small girl who lives in a fishing village with her parents. When her mother becomes sick, her father sells Chiyo and her sister, Satsu, off to become geisha. However, only Chiyo is regarded by those of the geisha district of Kyoto to be pretty enough to become a geisha, due to her light grayish-blue colored eyes, and Satsu is sold off to become a prostitute.

Chiyo meets Hatsumomo, the geisha who currently resides at the home she has been sold to. Though beautiful, Hatsumomo is harsh, cruel, and vain. She hates Chiyo and makes her life miserable. Meanwhile, Chiyo tries to escape and find Satsu so they can run away back to their village, but ends up ruining her chances to become a geisha. One day, Chiyo is crying in the streets, when a kind gentleman helps her to her feet, gives her his handkerchief, and buys her a shaved ice. The Chairman, as this man is known, leaves such an impact on Chiyo that she decides to do whatever it takes to become a geisha so she can see him again.

This dream becomes a reality for Chiyo when Mameha, a rival geisha of Hatsumomo, takes Chiyo under her wing as her big sister. Mameha gives Chiyo experience and training, as well as the support and confidence Chiyo needs in order to become a geisha. Throughout Chiyo’s journey of becoming a geisha, she is renamed Sayuri, and attracts the attention of some well-to-do men, such as Dr. Crab, Mameha’s baron danna (patron), and Nobu, who happens to be the Chairman’s business partner. Sayuri soon becomes known as one of the most alluring and entertaining of all geisha in Kyoto. Hatsumomo tries to retaliate, but is kicked out of the home as a commoner, no longer having a place which to call home and base her business from.

All seems to go well until World War II breaks out and the people of Kyoto are forced to either hide or wait for the bombs to drop. Nobu secures a place for Sayuri to hide, promising her that when this is all over, he will be her danna. Sayuri goes, and she is grateful to Nobu, but knows if he becomes her danna, there will be no chance for her and the Chairman, though up to this point, he has been friendly yet aloof with her.

The war comes to a close and Sayuri returns to Kyoto to be a geisha. Nobu asks her to help him get funding for his business by entertaining the Minister, a gross old man who finds Sayuri attractive. Sayuri realizes that if she engages in a relationship with the Minister, Nobu will want nothing to do with her, and she will be free to tell the Chairman how she feels for him. She devises a plan in which Pumpkin, an old friend and housemate of Sayuri’s, would lead Nobu into a room where he would see Sayuri and the Minister involved with one another. Pumpkin has been harboring feelings of hate for Sayuri ever since Sayuri was adopted by the house they lived at, and decides to get back at Sayuri by showing up with the Chairman rather than Nobu. Sayuri is devastated and feels all hope is gone.

Several weeks later, Sayuri is summoned to a teahouse. She goes, thinking she will have to commit to Nobu as her danna. She enters and finds someone she wasn’t expecting: the Chairman. He explains that he was responsible form Mameha taking Sayuri in and has wanted to be her danna ever since he saw her. Her actions with the Minister, her realizes, were an attempt to distance herself from Nobu so they could be together. The two then spend the rest of the Chairman’s life happily together.

Though the story may seem cliche, I have to say that it seemed new and exciting around every corner. The author does a brilliant job of immersing the reader in Japanese culture and custom without being confusing or cryptic. This beautifully woven story was captivating, and I found myself unable to put it down. I found myself wanting Sayuri to succeed, sympathizing with her situations, understanding while not agreeing with her relationship with the Minister, and thrilled with her when she finally unites with the Chairman. This is an easy recommendation for me to make. Memoirs of a Geisha is a beautifully woven story that I quickly and easily fell in love with and stayed in love with throughout my reading of it.