Big in Japan (Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden)

Member Name: Deany

Product:	Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
Date:	11/02/03 (375 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Engrossing, brings a foreign culture to life

Disadvantages: None

For a long time now, I've been intrigued by all things Japanese. The Japanese way of life, the language, the writing system - I find it all fascinating. Recently, I have started to learn Japanese at evening classes and one of my major ambitions in life is to one day travel to Japan and spend time travelling around. So, when I saw this book on offer in Waterstones' while home in the UK over Christmas I snapped it up, and I have to say that I am extremely glad that I did.

To be honest, when I first started reading "Memoirs of a Geisha", I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. It is told in the first person from the perspective of a woman and I was worried that it might not be the sort of book that a man could properly appreciate. I don't know why, but I often find it very hard to relate to a female central character and there are few books written like this that I have fully enjoyed (although "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood springs to mind as one that I could not put down). However, perhaps because the author is a man, I found myself totally engrossed in the world described in the novel.

The novel takes place in Japan from the 1930s onwards, including a period during World War II, and focuses on the story of a young girl called Chiyo. When the story starts, Chiyo lives with her family in a remote costal village and her life consists of playing games with the other local children and helping out around the home. However, her mother becomes terminally ill and her father is unable to look after his daughters, so he allows them to be sold to an "okiya" in Kyoto (an okiya is a mixture between a house and a training centre for geisha). Once there, Chiyo's sister manages to run away and Chiyo herself sets out upon the long and demanding road to becoming a geisha.

From the very first page, this book had me entranced. Arthur Golden spent an enormous amount of time researching Japanese hi
story and the geisha themselves, as proved by the long list of acknowledgements made at the end of the book. As a result, the Japan of the early 20th century comes alive in the reader's mind almost as if you are there. The village where Chiyo grows up is poor and the people live simple peasant lives but as the story progresses, Chiyo travels to the geisha region of Gion in Kyoto and a whole new world of luxury and wealth opens out before her - all described in vivid detail.

If the Japan of today is alien to the western mind, then the Japan of nearly a century ago is even more so. Everyone lived within an extremely strict set of social conventions that simply could not be broken. For example, when Chiyo is young her opinion is of no value whatsoever and the fact that she is simply sold when her parents can no longer look after her is accepted as normal by all concerned. She is not informed of what is happening until she arrives at the okiya that is to be her new home, and even then she is not allowed to show any emotion but merely has to accept what has happened and get to work in her new duties as a trainee geisha.

Every little detail that the author includes serves to reinforce the exotic nature of the world you are reading about. When Chiyo meets an important person she has to bow so low that she is practically laid flat on the floor, whereas the chairman or minister or senior geisha barely even nods in return. The various kimono worn by a geisha are all described in colourful detail, as well as the different types of makeup and hairstyle worn during the stages of a geisha's life and what they all represent. Even the way that a geisha will consult her astrological almanac before making any significant decision in her life is fascinating; if the almanac warns against a journey to the east, for example, the geisha will refuse to even visit a shop that lies to the east of where she lives.

However, the most fascinating aspect of the
book is the geisha themselves. At one point, the narrator makes the point that when she tells westerners she is a geisha they become embarrassed and consider her little more than a prostitute, but such a label does not justice to such an intruiging way of life that is rapidly disappearing. And, I have to admit that before reading this book I knew very little about geisha.

The word geisha derives from the Japanese kanji "gei" for art or craft and "sha" which can be read as person - so geisha actually means something along the lines of "artisan". When Chiyo embarks upon the path to becoming a geisha, she is sent to a form of school where she learns skills such as singing, traditional Japanese dance, the tea ceremony and how to play a guitar-like instrument called a shamisen. Only after many years of practise and once all these skills have been mastered can an apprentice finally become a geisha. Her role then is to entertain men, mostly when they visit the tea-houses, by engaging them in conversation, pouring their drinks, and singing and dancing as requested. Often the geisha will also be asked to put on performances in theatres and they play a vital role in helping business deals proceed smoothly by encouraging the men concerned to talk with one another and intervening when tempers become heated.

Of course, the geisha have to entertain men in other ways too. To be successful, a geisha has to take what is called a "danna". This is a successful businessman or government minister who is often happily married but who takes a geisha as his mistress. He becomes responsible for all the bills that have accrued during the geisha's training and often lavishes the geisha with gifts and money that allow her to lead a pampered existence. In return, the geisha is expected to take the man as her lover. One of the most remarkable things I found in reading the book was that this was viewed as perfectly acceptable behaviou
r in Japan at the time and the danna did not make any attempt to hide the geisha away - in fact, they usually tried to be seen in the geisha's company as often as possible and sometimes even went so far as to have children together.

All of which may make it seem that Chiyo might lead an easy life, which is not true at all. Her problems begin when she arrives in the geisha district of Gion; she has been taken away from her family, her sister runs away and abandons her, and she is practically made a prisoner in the okiya. To make matters worse, the head geisha of the okiya - Hatsumomo - takes an instant dislike to Chiyo and tries everything in her power to ruin Chiyo's life. Even when Chiyo eventually becomes a geisha and takes the new name Sayuri, she is still tied to the okiya by the debts for her training and has no alternative but to proceed along the way of life that will bring in the most money for "Mother", the okiya's owner.

The characters in the novel are all very believable and each comes to life in his or her own right. In the okiya Chiyo/Sayuri slowly gains a new family, although this is one based on business decisions and necessity rather than love and affection. Mother is the head of the okiya and also in charge of its accounts; she pays for Chiyo to be schooled as a geisha with the expectation that these debts will be repaid and any later profits made will be ploughed back into the okiya. The geisha who makes most money will eventually be adopted by Mother and become the next head of the okiya. There is also an Auntie who looks after the day to day running of the okiya. Perhaps the most important influence in Chiyo's early life is an older geisha named Mameha who takes on the role of her older sister in a short ceremony and who is responsible for guiding Chiyo/Sayuri through her first years as a geisha (for a share of her income, of course).

"Memoirs of a Geisha" is also a love story. When C
hiyo is still a child and is distressed by the events she is caught up in, a man one day stops her in the street after seeing that she is upset and gives her a handkerchief to wipe away her tears. Later, Chiyo cannot stop thinking about this man - the Chairman - and the memory of him gives her the strength to carry on with her training in the hope that they may one day meet again. Indeed, they do meet again, but by this time the Chairman does not recognise her and it is his assistant Nobu, a war hero disfigured by burns, who takes an interest in Chiyo/Sayuri instead. But Sayuri never gives up hope that the Chairman may one day notice her again.

As the story progresses, Japan enters the war against the Allies and once it is defeated the old way of life beings to erode as American soldiers arrive to impose peace. Although Japan the nation was responsible for terrible actions during the war, the residents of the geisha district suffer from the general deprivations of a land at war and at one point the entire district is forced to close. Once it reopens there is a sense that the old traditions have been broken and something special has been lost. Japan loses much of what made it so exotic and an entire culture begins to be assimilated into the western world.

All in all, this is an enthralling story that is beautifully written. The author conducted a number of interviews with geisha who were alive at this time when he was writing the book and so I am sure that most of the experiences he relates were true to some extent, although the novel itself is of course fiction. I can wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone with an interest in Japan or Japanese history, or who just wants to sit back and relax with a good book.

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