Memoirs of a Geisha - by Arthur Golden

First Edition Cover

According to American writer Arthur Golden, 'geisha' doesn't mean 'prostitute' as commonly assumed.  It means 'artisan' or 'artist'.  I read Memoirs of a Geisha a few years ago way before the film was released and it was so beautiful it has stayed with me all these years.   Since then I saw the film too but it was nothing like reading the book and getting lost in the haunting world of pre-war Japan where geishas flourished, whose beauty regimen were practiced religiously to beguile the most powerful of men, whose charm and cunning were made into an art, and for whom true love was never an option.

American writer Arthur Golden
has an M.A. in Japanese history. 
His interviews with a number of geisha
provided critical background information
about the world of the geisha. 

Memoirs of a Geisha, published in 1997, is about Sayuri, a young girl with mesmerizing blue-gray eyes who lives in a village with her parents and sister.  Sayuri's family is poor, and when her mother falls ill her father has no choice but to sell the girls to an acquaintance believing they would be cared for.  Unknown to their father the girls are sold into separate geisha houses.  Luckily for Sayuri, because of her beauty and her unusual blue-gray eyes, she is sold to one of the best okiyas (geisha house) in the flourishing district of Kyoto. 

At the okiya, Sayuri who is too young to become a geisha, is first made to work endless hours cleaning the house after the other geishas.  But later she is also made to learn the rigorous art of being a geisha and is transformed.  She learns about dance and music, wearing kimono, putting on elaborate makeup and doing her hair.  She also learns about the proper refinements required of geishas including pouring sake to reveal just a touch of her inner wrist and to compete with other geishas for men's solicitude and the money that goes with it. But amidst all this she is scorned by the leading geisha in her okiya Hatsumomo who would later envy her success and become her most bitter rival.   


Mineko Iwasaki,
one of the foremost geisha
interviewed by Arthur Golden.
She wrote a book, Geisha of Gion,
which was published in 2003

The story comes to a turning point when Sayuri meets a gentleman in the street who offers her a cup of sweet ice.  This act of kindness from this handsome stranger strikes Sayuri in an unforgettable way and she hopes to meet the man again someday.    Later Sayuri meets Mameha, one of the most renowned Geisha in Kyoto, who takes Sayuri under her wing and helps transform her into one of the most beautiful and most sought-after Geishas in Kyoto.   Then as World War II erupts, Sayuri's okiya is forced to close and with no money she must persist to find her own freedom and happiness. 

Memoirs of a Geisha struck me because it is a story about the strength of the human spirit.  From the beginning you find yourself rooting for Sayuri who talks about her life with a voice that is so haunting and urgent, yet filled with wisdom.  You find yourself hoping that despite her hard life she would someday find happiness and most of all, true love.   The characters, especially that of Hatsumomo and Mameha, are unforgettable and very well developed, something I always look for in a book. 

My copy of Memoirs of a Geisha
has this cover

The writing is brilliant and spontaneous, filled with authenticity of 1930s Japan, but at the same time cleverly intertwined with characters' thoughts and actions as well as the gripping plot of the story.  Arthur Golden also manages to inject a bit of humor every now and then amidst the rich detail and backdrop of Kyoto.


Memoirs of a Geisha has struck me so much I have included in the list of the best books I have ever read.


To learn more about the world of the geisha, check out this interesting documentary from NBC.