Geisha, A Life by Iwasaki Mineko, trans. Rande Brown
I actually wrote this up a couple months ago, then forgot I hadn't posted it yet once I started doing the weekly reading meme.
This is the autobiography of the woman whose life Arthur Golden appropriated for Memoirs of A Geisha, and who received death threats after he revealed her as a source.
I haven't read Memoirs of A Geisha and have no intention to. I watched the movie when it was new-ish, and before I really started to be aware of cultural appropriation. At the time, I thought it was a beautiful movie with fine performers, but a bit hinky and definitely reaking of "exotic Eastern customs are so exotic and mysterious." I rewatched it recently because people I was with wanted to, and still thought it was a beautiful movie with fine performers, but alternated between wanting to bang a head against something and wanting to lecture people.
Iwasaki doesn't mention or directly refer to either Golden or Geisha even once in the book (the closest she gets is a few comments about how many misconceptions about geisha and the conflation of geisha with other kinds of female performers and entertainment workers exist) but I think that, when reading the book, it's important to remember that it exists in part as a reaction to how Iwasaki felt her life and the women in it were twisted and portrayed by Golden. (It's notable, I think, that Iwasaki has many complicated yet generally close and positive relationships with other women throughout her life, and many show up as abusers and rivals in Geisha.)
Iwasaki was born in the 50s and adopted as the daughter-and eventual heir- of an ochiyo-geisha house-at the age of five, and worked as a maiko (junior geisha) and geiko (Kyoto geisha) in the 60s and 70s. As the daughter and eventual heir of the house, Iwasaki had a number of privileges that other geisha did not both growing up and as a professional. While she seems aware that she had these privileges, she doesn't seem particularly interested in how they might have made her experiences different from those of others, or how the experiences of geisha of her time may be different from those of even a generation before. This didn't particularly bother me, as she's interested in telling her personal story, not in making herself the representative and voice of all geisha, but it might bug some. (Actually, looking at Amazon reviews, it bugs a lot of people. Most of whom think she should be more humble or something, and have a bit of a "I'm an American who has read what white people have published about geisha, so obviously I know better than this actual geisha.")
Iwasaki spends a lot of time on the training, customs, rules and relationships for and between geisha (And the kimonos!), and if you have an interest in those (hint: I DO) I highly recommend the book. There are a lot of anecdotes and stories, both good and bad, though the ones with England's royal family might be the best. She flirted with Prince Philip because Elizabeth II wouldn't eat the fodd prepared specifically for her and based on what they'd been told were her tastes, and Prince Charles ruined one of her fans by grabbing and signing it without her permission, and she had to get another one for the rest of her engagements that evening. (And was later surprised when a friend asked for it as a keepsake, but it had already been destroyed.)
She also spends a lot of time explaining how little the average geisha knew about money (at the time, Iwasaki had no concept of money. While the women who ran the houses were apparently often great financiers and in control of their own money, the individual women had little control over money, though I imagine those not in Iwasaki's position had at least a somewhat better idea of what their training, costumes and accessories cost) or being self-sufficient (at one point, she decides to try living on her own in an apartment while still working and doesn't know to move rice from the delivery bag to the container, to plug in a vacuum cleaner, to taste her food before serving it to others, etc), and how (at the time) geisha in training were not educated past junior high. Iwasaki was one of the most famous and popular geiko at the time, and when she decided to retire at the age of 29, she did it in a way that she hoped would shock the system into reform. Sadly, she doesn't really follow up on that, or how the people in her life reacted to it, though she does mention that she later heard that 70 geiko retired shortly after she did.
I found the book very interesting and easy to read. Iwasaki didn't go as deeply into some things as I'd hoped, but spent more time than I expected on others. Does anyone know of any other books about geisha NOT by white people?
This is the autobiography of the woman whose life Arthur Golden appropriated for Memoirs of A Geisha, and who received death threats after he revealed her as a source.
I haven't read Memoirs of A Geisha and have no intention to. I watched the movie when it was new-ish, and before I really started to be aware of cultural appropriation. At the time, I thought it was a beautiful movie with fine performers, but a bit hinky and definitely reaking of "exotic Eastern customs are so exotic and mysterious." I rewatched it recently because people I was with wanted to, and still thought it was a beautiful movie with fine performers, but alternated between wanting to bang a head against something and wanting to lecture people.
Iwasaki doesn't mention or directly refer to either Golden or Geisha even once in the book (the closest she gets is a few comments about how many misconceptions about geisha and the conflation of geisha with other kinds of female performers and entertainment workers exist) but I think that, when reading the book, it's important to remember that it exists in part as a reaction to how Iwasaki felt her life and the women in it were twisted and portrayed by Golden. (It's notable, I think, that Iwasaki has many complicated yet generally close and positive relationships with other women throughout her life, and many show up as abusers and rivals in Geisha.)
Iwasaki was born in the 50s and adopted as the daughter-and eventual heir- of an ochiyo-geisha house-at the age of five, and worked as a maiko (junior geisha) and geiko (Kyoto geisha) in the 60s and 70s. As the daughter and eventual heir of the house, Iwasaki had a number of privileges that other geisha did not both growing up and as a professional. While she seems aware that she had these privileges, she doesn't seem particularly interested in how they might have made her experiences different from those of others, or how the experiences of geisha of her time may be different from those of even a generation before. This didn't particularly bother me, as she's interested in telling her personal story, not in making herself the representative and voice of all geisha, but it might bug some. (Actually, looking at Amazon reviews, it bugs a lot of people. Most of whom think she should be more humble or something, and have a bit of a "I'm an American who has read what white people have published about geisha, so obviously I know better than this actual geisha.")
Iwasaki spends a lot of time on the training, customs, rules and relationships for and between geisha (And the kimonos!), and if you have an interest in those (hint: I DO) I highly recommend the book. There are a lot of anecdotes and stories, both good and bad, though the ones with England's royal family might be the best. She flirted with Prince Philip because Elizabeth II wouldn't eat the fodd prepared specifically for her and based on what they'd been told were her tastes, and Prince Charles ruined one of her fans by grabbing and signing it without her permission, and she had to get another one for the rest of her engagements that evening. (And was later surprised when a friend asked for it as a keepsake, but it had already been destroyed.)
She also spends a lot of time explaining how little the average geisha knew about money (at the time, Iwasaki had no concept of money. While the women who ran the houses were apparently often great financiers and in control of their own money, the individual women had little control over money, though I imagine those not in Iwasaki's position had at least a somewhat better idea of what their training, costumes and accessories cost) or being self-sufficient (at one point, she decides to try living on her own in an apartment while still working and doesn't know to move rice from the delivery bag to the container, to plug in a vacuum cleaner, to taste her food before serving it to others, etc), and how (at the time) geisha in training were not educated past junior high. Iwasaki was one of the most famous and popular geiko at the time, and when she decided to retire at the age of 29, she did it in a way that she hoped would shock the system into reform. Sadly, she doesn't really follow up on that, or how the people in her life reacted to it, though she does mention that she later heard that 70 geiko retired shortly after she did.
I found the book very interesting and easy to read. Iwasaki didn't go as deeply into some things as I'd hoped, but spent more time than I expected on others. Does anyone know of any other books about geisha NOT by white people?