Memoirs of a Geisha: Book Review

This is a review of one of my favourite novels: Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.

This beautiful piece of historical fiction was first published in 1997 by Chatto and Windus. A film adaptation of the novel also came out in 2005, and is equally beautiful. I first read this book when I was 14 and I remember wanting to learn more and more about geisha culture from then on. Geisha culture itself has changed so much since the time this novel was set. In the story itself, the main character Sayuri was taken from her family as a child to become a geisha, and she had no choice. The novel is also rather explicit, and the geishas were seen as sexual objects by some of the men, drank saké at a very young age, had their virginity sold to rich men for a lot of money, and were dependent on a danna, an extremely wealthy man who was normally a lot older than the geisha herself, and would provide her with everything she needed. It was normal for the geisha to be in a sexual relationship with her danna.

So yeah, I became really curious as to how and why geisha culture still continues today, and thankfully my cousin’s wife spent a year or so as a maiko, which is basically an apprentice geisha. I asked her everything there was to ask and she was happy to answer my questions. The main reason that she started her geisha training was because despite her Japanese heritage, she was born in Australia and grew up in a very western world. She returned to Japan when she was a teenager and thought that becoming a geisha would help her connect more with her background. Eventually she realized that the process of becoming a geisha was not exactly what she wanted to go through, as living away from her family and friends whilst training was too difficult for her. I also asked her if the traditions have changed from the past and yes, things have definitely (and thankfully) changed. Despite the fact that geisha culture is a very traditional and exclusive lifestyle in Japan, and keeps many of its old customs. Nowadays, girls have a choice, of course, whether they would like to become a geisha or not. However, it is quite rare for young girls to want to go through all those months of hard training to become a geisha, which is why the traditional culture is slowly and gradually decreasing in popularity. It is also not required for younger girls in training to drink saké, and the image of a geisha in general is not as sexualized as it was back in the post-depression era.

The word geisha literally translates to “artist” and the word maiko translates to “little dancer”… so cute!

I highly recommend reading Memoirs of a Geisha as it really is beautifully written and I had a good time visualising all the details in the imagery descriptions. There really is a lot of vivid detail!

Also, on a side note, saké is actually really good for the skin and hair - I recommend putting some in a hot bath with cherry blossoms :-)