Chiyo Sakamoto '’Sayuri’’

• Watch Memoirs Of A Geisha
• Memoir Of Geisha Chiyo
• Memoir Of Geisha Book

Nitta Sayuri reveals how she transcended her fishing-village roots and became one of Japan's most celebrated geisha. Memoirs of a Geisha tells the story of a young girl, Chiyo Sakamoto, who is sold into slavery by her family. Her new family then sends her off to school to become a geisha. This movie is mainly about older Chiyo and her struggle as a geisha to find love, in the process making a lot of enemies. The film was nominated and won numerous awards.

Chyo is the main character in the book, the story being told from her perspective. She is taken from her family and separated from her sister at a young age and is sold to a geisha house where Mother hops that she will become a successful geisha. She is a stubborn character, insisting on running away and on disobeying the house rules, which results in Mother refusing to send her to the geisha school anymore. A successful geisha takes an interest in Chyo because of her interesting eyes and manages to make her a successful geisha. Sayuri ends up falling in love with a wealthy man and, from that point on, everything she does is in the hope that one day she will meet that person again.

Hatsumomo

She is the only geisha in the Nitta okyia when Chyo arrives there. She is extremely beautiful and quite successful but is proud and hateful towards those who have more success than her. From the day Chyo enters the okyia, Hatsumomo hates her because she sees her as a possible competitor and does everything she can to throw Chyo out. When the time comes, Hatsumomo becomes Pumpkin’s older sister and helps her.

Pumpkin

Pumpkin is a girl the same age as Chyo brought to the okyia in order to become a geisha. Even if she is not exceptionally beautiful or talented, she succeeds for a short period of time with Hatsumomo’s help. In the beginning, she and Chyo are good friends but are made rivals when Hatsumomo takes Pumpkin as her younger sister. During the war, Pumpkin ends up working in the pleasure district, and she sees Chyo responsible for that. When Pumpkin became a geisha, she receives the name Hatsumiyo but she remained known as Pumpkin even in her geisha days.

Mameha

Mameha is a very respectable geisha in the Gion district. She is considered as being a successful geisha because of her independence and because she had a danna who paid all her expenses instead of an okiya. Mameha takes an interest in Chyo and manages to convince Mother to let her continue her geisha training. Unlike Hasumomo, Mameha is kind hearted and guides Chyo in her journey of becoming a successful geisha.

Iwamura Ken 'The Chairman’’

The Chariman is the one who meets Chyo one day on a bridge and who is the reason behind her desire to become a geisha. He is the founder of Iwamura Electric and a close friend of Mameha’s. He confesses that he was the reason behind Mameha’s decision to take Chyo as her younger sister and ends up being Chyo’s danna.

Nobu Toshikazu

Nobu is one of Chyo’s admirers. He is disfigured from and accident that happened in the war and because of that many geishas nickname him Mr. Lizard. His affections towards Chyo are sincere and he competes for her virginity and then to become her danna. During the war, he makes sure that Chyo is safe by sending her outside the city.

General Tottori

The general becomes Sayuri’s first danna even if Nobu competed for the right to be her danna too. Even he is not as generous with gifts as other dannas, he provides to be useful when the war starts and he manages to get the okyia things that are not found elsewhere in the Gion district. He is however unable to protect Sayuri when she needs it as he uses the influence he has to protect onother girl.

Sakamoto Minoru

Chyo’s father, Sakamoto was a fisherman who lives in a small fishing village. He is married with Chyo’s mother but she is his second wife and thus, much younger than he is. Chyo describes him as loving the sea above all and being a calm man.

Tanaka Ichiro

Tanaka was a business man who owned a business in Yoroido where Chyo’s father worked. He has a girl the same age as Chyo and he is the one who arranged for Chyo and her sister to be sent away.

Natsu

The first wife of Sakamoto Minoru who died when she was twenty four.

Jinichiro

One of Sakamoto Minoru and Natsu’s children who died at the age of six.

Masao

Onother child resulting from the marriage betwen Natsu and Sakamoto Minoru who died at the age of three.

Dr. Miura

The doctor in Yoroido that treated Chyo’s mother.

Satsu

Satsu is Chyo’s older sister who resembles her father both in manner and is appearance. While Chyo is sent to a geisha house, she is sent to a pleasure house and becomes a prostitute. She eventually runs away.

Chyo’s mother

Though her name is not given, it is said that Chyo resembles her mother, both having unusual grey eyes. When Chyo was seven, her mother grew terribly ill and eventually died shortly after Chyo and her sister were sent away.

Mrs Suigi

A rob maker in Yoroido

Sugi

Mr. Tanaka’s assistant.

Kuniko

Mr. Tanaka’s younger daughter who has the same age as Chyo.

Bekku

Bekku is the one who takes Chyo and her sister away. He also assists geishas when they dress because of the complexity of the Japanese traditional clothes.

Korin

A geisha in the Gion district and a friend of Hatsumomo’s.

Onoe Shikan

A name used as a code by Hatsumomo when referring to her boyfriend.

Awaji

A former sumo wrestler working at the Gion Registry Office

Teacher Mizumi

She is the teacher that teaches shamisen at the geisha school. Because of her appearance, she receives the nickname, Teacher Mouse.

Umeko

The name of the cook in the Nitta okyia.

Tatsumi

Mameha’s maid.

Hatsuoki

A geisha that was forced to leave Gion after Hatsumomo spread lies about her.

Auntie

Auntie is a former unsuccessful geisha that lives in the Nitta okyia. She is kind hearted and advices Chyo not to trust Hatsumomo.

Kayoko Nitta ’'Mother’’

Mrs. Nitta is the head of the Nitta okyia and in charge of everything that passes through it. She is known as being very greedy and about not making any deals unless it’s in her advantage. Even after the war forces the geisha district to close down, Mother continues to make good profit through multiple business, showing her true character.

Grandmother

Grandmother is another former successful geisha who lives in the Nitta okyia. She is cruel and her appearance is disfigured because of the make-up used in her geisha days.

Teacher Rump

A teacher at the geisha school who teaches dance.

Waza

Mameha’s fortune teller.

Baron Matunaga Tsuneyoshi

The Baron is Mameha’s danna and also a wealthy aristocrat. During the war, he remains without his fortune so he ends up committing suicide.

Miyagiyama

A sumo wrestler

Saiho

A sumo wrestler

Dr. Crab

Dr. Crab is the name given by Chyo to well-known doctor that bought her virginity. He also bought Mmeha’s virginity and Hatsumomo’s.

Uchida Kosaburo

A well-known artist that becomes intrigues by Chyo’s looks and paints her a portrait that makes her famous.

Mr. Itchoda

Mameha’s dresser

Yasuda Akira

A designer that became famous and that Sayuri found interesting.

Takazuru

A geisha that Nobu found interesting after the war. She comes to Sayuri and asks for advice on how to please him and make him like her more.

Michizono

A geisha in the Gion district after the war.

Bando Shojiro

A Kabuki actor

Tachibana

An old koto player

Basil Rathbone

An English actor

Arashino Isamu

A well-known kimono maker that was famous before the war but after it started him and his family had to sew parachutes. Sayuri is sent to him by Nobu when it becomes too dangerous to remain in the city.

Juntaro

Mr. Arashino’s grandson

Inoue

A young tami maker that Sayuri got involved with while she was with the Arashino’s family.

Etsuko

A young girl that became maid in the Nitta okyia when it was open again after the war.

Shizue

An old geisha that accompanied Mameha, Sayuri and Pumpkin to the Amami Island.

Izuko

The geisha who accompanied the Chairman the first time he meets Chyo.

Ichiwari

The director of the Minamiza Theater

Memoirs of a Geisha is a historical fiction novel by American author Arthur Golden, published in 1997. The novel, told in first person perspective, tells the story of a fictional geisha working in Kyoto, Japan, before, during and after World War II, and ends with her being relocated to New York City.

In 2005, a film version was released.

Plot summary[edit]

In 1929, nine year-old Chiyo Sakamoto and her 15 year-old sister, Satsu, are sold by their father to work within the entertainment districts of Kyoto. They are taken from their home, the coastal fishing village of Yoroido along the Sea of Japan, and travel to Kyoto by train; upon arrival, Chiyo is taken to the Nitta okiya (geisha boarding house) in Gion, whereas Satsu - deemed less attractive and therefore a poor investment - is instead taken to a brothel within Kyoto's pleasure district.

Chiyo is taken inside, and is introduced to Auntie, Mother (Auntie's adoptive older sister and the matriarch of the house) and Granny, their elderly and poor-natured adoptive mother and the okiya's former 'mother'. Both Auntie and Mother are strict, though Auntie is kinder to Chiyo, whereas Mother is driven by money and business. Chiyo is also introduced to Hatsumomo - the premier geisha of the okiya, its primary earner, and one of the most famous, beautiful and ill-mannered geisha of Gion. Hatsumomo takes an instant disliking to Chiyo, and goes out of her way to torment her. Auntie warns Chiyo against both angering and trusting Hatsumomo, knowing the ill-mannered geisha's true nature very well.

Watch Memoirs Of A Geisha

Chiyo begins her 'training' at the okiya, which consists of household drudgery, before she is deemed worthy enough and starts her geisha training. Having learnt the location of Satsu from Hatsumomo, upon an errand one day, Chiyo runs off to find her, and discovers her working in the pleasure district. The two conspire to run away and escape. Returning to the okiya, Chiyo discovers Hatsumomo with her boyfriend, Koichi; both Hatsumomo and Chiyo are punished after Chiyo is falsely accused of stealing by the furious Hatsumomo.

Miserable and desperate, Chiyo plans to finally run away from the okiya; however, she is caught when she falls off the roof and breaks her arm. Enraged at her for being a poor investment, Mother stops investing in Chiyo's geisha apprenticeship and returns her to the life of a maid. In a letter, Chiyo learns of her parents' deaths, and that Satsu managed to escape and return to Yoroido, only to run away with the son of a fisherman.

A few years later, a downtrodden Chiyo is given money and a handkerchief in the street by a kind stranger known to Chiyo as the Chairman. She donates the money to a shrine in Gion, praying to become a geisha of sufficient status to entertain the Chairman, and keeps the handkerchief as a memento. Soon afterwards, Pumpkin prepares to make her debut as a maiko, and the 'younger sister' of Hatsumomo, whilst Chiyo remains a maid; this is, however, until Mameha, another famous geisha in Gion, persuades a reluctant Mother to reinvest in Chiyo's training, with Mameha acting as Chiyo's mentor and 'older sister'.

Under Mameha's care, Chiyo becomes a maiko with the given name of Sayuri (meaning 'lily'), and is reacquainted with Chairman Iwamura (who appears not to recognise her), his closest friend and business partner Nobu, and a number of other prominent men. As Sayuri gains popularity, Hatsumomo - who has been refused succession of the okiya through adoption by Mother - tries to hurt Sayuri's reputation and career in the hopes of Mother adopting Pumpkin instead, through whom Hatsumomo can run the okiya by proxy.

Mameha devises a plan to orchestrate a bidding war for Sayuri's mizuage (a deflowering 'ceremony' for maiko as a step to becoming a full-fledged geisha). The plan is almost ruined when Hatsumomo attempts to spread the rumour of Sayuri no longer being a virgin; however, her attempt fails, and Mameha uses the record-breaking payment for Sayuri's mizuage to cover all of her debts. Mother adopts Sayuri over Pumpkin, ultimately destroying their friendship forever, and Hatsumomo begins a downward spiral into alcoholism before being thrown out of the okiya permanently following the assault of a kabuki actor during a party.

Upon Sayuri's promotion to fully-fledged geishahood, Nobu expresses an interest in becoming Sayuri's danna (patron), but loses to General Tottori; with Japan on the eve of war, Mother decides that a connection to the military is more important to the okiya. In 1944, geisha districts are ordered to close, and with many geisha conscripted to work in the factories, Sayuri desperately asks Nobu for help to avoid being conscripted into factory work. He sends Sayuri far north to live with his old friend, Arashino, a kimono maker, where she stays for much of the war.

At the end of the war, Nobu visits Sayuri, asking that she return to Gion to entertain the new Deputy Minister, Sato, whose aid Nobu desperately needs to rebuild his and the Chairman's business, Iwamura Electric. Sayuri returns to Gion to find Pumpkin working in a new okiya; despite hoping to rekindle their friendship, Pumpkin later sabotages Sayuri's plan to scare Nobu off from proposing to be her danna, as revenge for taking her place in the adoption so many years ago.

A few days after her plan fails, Sayuri is summoned to meet a client at a teahouse. Believing Nobu has called her to discuss the arrangements for becoming her danna, Sayuri is surprised to see the Chairman instead, and confesses that she has worked for years to become close to the Chairman. The Chairman admits that he has always known she was the girl he met on the street, and confesses his feelings for her as well, but felt he owed Nobu - his oldest and closest friend - the chance to be with Sayuri out of kindness. He also admits to having asked Mameha to train Sayuri.

Sayuri peacefully retires from geisha work when the Chairman becomes her danna. It is heavily implied that they have an illegitimate son together. Foreseeing the consequences this could have regarding the inheritance of Iwamura Electric, she relocates to New York City and opens her own small tea house for entertaining Japanese men on business in the United States. Sayuri severs her links to the Nitta okiya and, in effect, Japan. The Chairman remains her danna until his death and the story concludes with a reflection on Sayuri and her life.

References to actual locations[edit]

Much of the novel is set in the popular geisha district of Gion in Kyoto, and contains references to actual places frequented by geisha and their patrons, such as the Ichiriki Ochaya. Part of the story is also set in the Amami Islands, and Sayuri narrates the story from her suite in the Waldorf towers in New York City.

Lawsuit[edit]

After the Japanese edition of the novel was published, Arthur Golden was sued for breach of contract and defamation of character by Mineko Iwasaki, a retired geisha he had interviewed for background information while writing the novel. The plaintiff asserted that Golden had agreed to protect her anonymity if she told him about her life as a geisha, due to the traditional code of silence about their clients. However, Golden listed Iwasaki as a source in his acknowledgments for the novel, causing her to face a serious backlash, to the point of death threats.^[1] In his defense, Arthur Golden countered that he had tapes of his conversations with Iwasaki.^{[2][clarification needed]} Eventually, in 2003, Golden's publisher settled with Iwasaki out of court for an undisclosed sum of money.

Iwasaki later went on to write an autobiography, which shows a very different picture of 20th century geisha life than the one shown in Golden's novel.^[3] The book was published as Geisha, A Life^[4][5] in the US and Geisha of Gion in the UK.

Film version[edit]

Memoir Of Geisha Chiyo

In 2005, film director Rob Marshall made a film version of the novel. It stars the Chinese actresses Zhang Ziyi as Sayuri, Gong Li as Hatsumomo, and Michelle Yeoh as Mameha; and Japanese actors Ken Watanabe as the Chairman, Suzuka Ohgo as Sayuri's childhood incarnation Chiyo, and Youki Kudoh as the adult Pumpkin.

Filming was primarily done in California, and in some locations in Kyoto, including Kiyomizu-dera and Fushimi Inari-taisha. It was nominated for and won numerous awards, including nominations for six Academy Awards, three of which—Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design—it won.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

1. ^Richard Lloyd Barry (March 30, 2006). 'The Queen and the Geisha'. The Times. UK. Archived from the original on November 16, 2006. Retrieved October 23, 2008.
2. ^A Geisha ScornedThe Rough Guide to Japan: The Rough Guide, by Jan Dodd, Simon Richmond. Published by Rough Guides, 2001. ISBN1-85828-699-9. Page 889.
3. ^Chris Kincaid (May 6, 2015). 'The Battle of the Books Memoirs of a Geisha vs Geisha, A Life'. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
4. ^Geisha, a Life
5. ^Tamara Weider (October 10, 2002). Remaking a memoirArchived January 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Boston Phoenix. Accessed 2012-12-12.

Memoir Of Geisha Book

References[edit]

• Quotations related to Memoirs of a Geisha at Wikiquote
• McAlpin, Heller. 'Night Butterflies; Memoirs of a Geisha'. Los Angeles Times, November 30, 1997. Pg. 8.
• Dalby, Liza. 'Geisha'. 1983. pp. 54–64 (prostitution); pp. 109–112 ('deflowering' and mizu-age).
• Iwasaki, Mineko. Geisha; A Life. Simon and Schuster, 2003, books.google.com/books/about/Geisha.html?id=Yqj4q6M7x9MC.

+Golden, Arthur. Memoirs of a Geisha. G.K. Hall, 1999.