Japanese Butterfly (Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden)

Member Name: nickwock

Product:	Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
Date:	29/12/08 (328 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: hard to put down, easy to read

Disadvantages: hard to put down!

I'm sure many of you will have heard of the book, Memoirs of a Geisha, just as I have. I've never really had much of an interest in the book, probably because my usual novel of choice would be crime fiction and also due to my lack of understanding of the Geisha and Japanese culture. However, I found a slightly tatty copy of this book in a local book sale for 25p and decided to broaden my horizons!

The story begins in 1929 during the great depression. Yoroido, a small peasant fishing village, is home to Chiyo, her elder sister Satsu and her mother and father. From a young age, Chiyo seems so aware of the world she lives in, describing her little 'tipsy' house built on a cliff to perfection and really giving you a strong feel for her happiness there, although there was very little money or food. The bond between Chiyo and her mother is very strong and Chiyo has inherited her mother's eyes, a remarkable grey/blue colour. Unfortunately, her mother becomes seriously ill and life takes a dramatic turn for little seven year old Chiyo and her sister. When Chiyo falls over in the village she attracts the attention of Mr. Tanaka an important business man. Chiyo sees Mr Tanaka as her saviour, the rich business man, saving her from a life of poverty and shortly before her mother's death; the girls are taken from their little 'tipsy' home and embark on their first trip out of their home town. Obviously it would be wonderful if Mr Tanaka was to adopt the girls, but that would have made a much shorter tale! They soon realise all is not as it seems and they end their journey in the care of a complete stranger, in Kyoto. Satsu is a young teenager at this point and is sold to a jorou-ya -a brothel, while Chiyo has been sold to an Okiya, which is a home for geisha and geisha in training.

Chiyo definitely has been the luckier sister, although life is most certainly made very difficult for her. The owners of the okiya, 'mother', 'auntie' and 'grandmother' make Chiyo work like a slave, with the promise that if she behaves, she may be lucky and the okiya will send her to school to learn the geisha arts. One problem stands in her way, Hatsumomo is the okiyas principle geisha, she is beautiful and extremely popular which means a high revenue for the okiya, therefore Hatsumomo can get away with murder and she takes an instant dislike for pretty little Chiyo with her unusual eyes and decides to make life as difficult as she possibly can.

We follow Chiyo's struggle and although the path is not easy, she is eventually taken on by another Geisha, Mahema, who also just happens to be Hatsumomos arch rival. Mahema is a very popular geisha with many contacts who sees Chiyo's great potential. As Chiyo is now an apprentice geisha she is given a geisha name, Sayuri. Although you expect life to become easier for Sayuri now, she is still just a young teenager who doesn't really understand the full meaning of being a geisha. Pouring tea in the correct manner and engaging in entertaining conversation with boring business men is only one side. Selling your virginity to the highest bidder at the tender age of fifteen is another. Finding a much older and very well off gentleman (I use the term loosely!) to be your danna is yet another. Sadly, these decisions are made by the okiya and poor Sayuri has very little sayin her future. Nevertheless, she dreams of her 'saviour', a kind gentleman she met before becoming a geisha, but as she has such little control over her own life, will there ever be a happy ending for Sayuri?

The book is written in the first person from Sayuri/Chiyo's perspective. She is such an easy character to like, she is a very dreamy girl, describing her surroundings so vividly they are easy to imagine. Sometimes her words almost slip into poetry, but she is also very sharp witted and feisty. It is not always clear if she fully understands what is going on around her, certainly through much of the book she is a very young girl who has been pushed into a very adults way of life although she rarely comes across as naive, usually just accepting of her situation and looking for the best way to get through it.

The book explains so much about the geisha culture, the rules, regulations and various ceremonies to be followed, their superstitious nature, the importance of their popularity, exactly the kind of work a geisha does and how they actually make their money. Much detail is given about the different levels of geisha, the way Kimono is assembled, how the heavy make up is applied, the extravagant hairstyles and yet, not once did I feel the urge to skip a page or even a paragraph. I always thought Geisha were the handmaids to the emperor, so you can imagine the shock I had reading this!

I couldn't put this book down and lost myself in it so completely I was quite disappointed when I realised it was a work of fiction! It is written by Arthur Golden and after reading the author's acknowledgments I felt quite reassured that he had researched the book very well and had gathered information from some popular geisha of their way of life, although he was later sued by one, Mineko Iwasaki, she claimed he had promised her anonymity due to the traditional code of silence between a geisha and her clients. Golden has worked in Tokyo, has an MA in Japanese history and a degree in art history, specialising in Japanese art.

Memoirs of a Geisha was first published in 1997, the paperback copy I have is published by Vintage in 1998 and has 434 pages. The cover is grey showing the brightly painted red lips of a geisha. The RRP is £6.99 but obviously, given its age, I recommend searching for a very cheap second hand copy!

Summary: Insight into Geisha