Geisha, a Life

Geisha, A Life is the last of four books about Geisha that I added to my reading list several years ago (including Memoirs of a Geisha). Each of these books was a different sort of book, from a different perspective, and told a somewhat different story. But they all contribute to a unified understanding of the lives and traditions of the geisha.Mineko Iwasaki was a real geisha (she and the people she worked with preferred the term ‘geiko,’ which means ‘woman of art’ as opposed to the more generic ‘geisha’ which means ‘artist’). This book is her autobiography. She worked in the Gion Kobu district of Kyoto, the most famous and high-class district of Kyoto in the 1960s and 1970s. (Sayuri, the geisha in Memoirs of a Geisha also worked in Gion, but primarily before and immediately after World War II).Mineko Iwasaki moved into the Iwasaki okiya (geisha house) when she was five years old. Due to a complicated tangle of circumstances, she became the atotori, or person next in line to succeed the owner of the okiya. She began training as a dancer at the age of six, became a maiko, or apprentice geisha, at fifteen, and ‘turned her collar’ (a rite of passage that signals the transformation from maiko to adult geiko) at twenty. She was a highly successful geiko but decided to retire at twenty-nine, after becoming disillusioned at her failure to reform the archaic geisha system.She details many of her meetings with famous people during her career as a geiko and tells of some of her conflicts with other geiko, especially her geisha sister, who in this case was her actual sister as well, but who had a bad attitude toward the entire profession because she felt like her parents had sold her for personal gain when she was a child.Like all the geisha stories, Mineko’s is fascinating, but also a little sad as she struggled with a career that challenged her personal deficiencies.

Okay, so I'm going to be very blunt and honest in this review and probably in the rest of my future reviews. I'm always honest, but sometimes I hold my opinions back a little bit for fear of offending someone. I just can't do it anymore. And when it comes to this review, I have some very strong opinions.First of all, I would venture to say that anyone that reads/read this book has already read Memoirs of a Geisha. This memoir is supposedly the real story of the geisha that Memoirs was based upon. It was written by Mineko Iwasaki herself with the help of an English translator. Now I can say that I have read both books, and Memoirs of a Geisha beats the pants off of this very informative, but slightly dry attempt at the same.Listen. I know parts of Memoirs of a Geisha are fictional. But some of the things that Mineko said about the book I find slightly offensive. She has said that Memoirs of a Geisha made the Geisha appear to be a high-classed prostitute. I never had that opinion after reading it. At all. In fact, quite often the author made the distinction between traditional courtesan and Geisha.Also, I want to talk about the Mizuage tradition. Mineko has stated that it was never a ceremony where a maiko's virginity was auctioned off to the highest bidder. As gross as this is, Mineko is being very misleading and she is/was not speaking the truth. During the time that Mineko was a Geiko, the practice had been outlawed, but before the 60's, it was commonplace. It was officially outlawed in 1959, but carried on for awhile after that.Now notice for a second the setting for Memoirs of a Geisha. Most of the book was set before World War 2. The whole virginity aspect was still very much a part of Geiko culture then. So like I said, Mineko was being very misleading in her book. I could go on and on about the disagreements I have with the things Mineko has said, but I think by now you get the point.I didn't dislike reading it, I found it to be very informative. But I also found it kind of dry and written with an air of condescension. Mineko thinks very highly of herself.I'm not saying that she shouldn't be, but I felt I was being talked down to for a good portion of the story.I gave it four stars, because it was a well-written piece of non-fiction, and I happen to be very interested in Asian culture, especially the Gaiko/Maiko culture. There is not a lot of information out there, and I will read whatever I can get my hands on. That being said though, I will probably never re-read this, but I will re-read Memoirs of a Geisha. There's actually a story there and quite a few facts. I would recommend reading this if you are interested in Japan or Geisha culture. Otherwise, it could go either way.

I've found this book absolutely accidentally by browsing Google. I read Memoirs of a Geisha and watched the film a few years ago. I liked it. But since the book has been written by a real geisha, it was very interesting to know a different point of view and see the events through her eyes. I like "Geisha: A Life" so much. Still reading. I would definitely recommend this book to people who like Japanese history and culture.

This is a very well written book by a highly successful geisha of the 1960's and 70's Japan. Hated and envied by her older geisha sister, adored by her adoptive geisha family, she went on to be Japan's most succesful geisha and retired early at the tender age of 29 to run a tea shop. Now suing Arthur Golden for breaking his vow of not naming her as his source for his acclaimed novel "Memoirs of a Geisha" as it was unheard of for a geisha to break the vow of silence on their lives. The book may not have the excitement and the attention of Golden's novel but at least it's a true story itself and well written enough to get the reader's interest. Worth buying in my opinion and a warning to everyone: it has a different title by a British publisher, "Geisha of Gion" as I made the mistake of buying it, only to realise it was the same book but under a different heading.

Completely absorbing and amazing book. I initially read Memoirs of a Geisha then picked up this book as I read about the controversy behind MOAG and wanted to know the real story. Infinitely more interesting than the fabricated Memoirs of a Geisha.

what a brilliant book, the story was well worth reading. I loved it. I both creid and laughed. I dont often re read many books, but I will this one sometime in the future.

Good purchase