Word: geishas
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Chiyo's career as Sayuri begins when her elderly father, distraught over his ailing wife, permits her to be placed in okiya, or training houses for geisha, at the urging of a rather dubious local entrepreneur...
Cinderella led a life of relative ease and comfort when compared with Chiyo's existence in the okiya. Chiyo carries out a grueling round of chores fueled by rations scarcely sufficient to sustain life, tormented always by the dominant geisha, Hatsumomo, who sees the beautiful Chiyo as a threat. A failed runaway attempt cuts short her training, but then the famous geisha Mameha takes a sudden and surprising interest in Chiyo and her unusual blue-gray eyes. Chiyo is permitted to resume her training, becoming the geisha Sayuri and beginning her slow ascent to the heights of Gion...
Sayuri once notes that "the point wasn't to become a geisha, but to be one," but Golden wisely devotes the bulk of the book to the becoming. Golden has done an exquisite job of research. His comprehensive knowledge of the world of a geisha adds verisimilitude as Sayuri describes her reactions to her increasing knowledge of a geisha's life. Her descriptions of how to wear a kimono, or what a geisha's daily lessons are like, or how a geisha is expected to behave in the presence of men are among the best passages in the book: educational...
Oddly enough, men play almost an incidental role in Sayuri's life as a geisha. She spends her evening hours being attractive and attentive to the men she entertains and excites at the scores of parties she pops in and out of, yet scarcely sees another man besides her dresser at any other time. The main figures in a geisha's life are all female. Even during the evening, while seemingly enthralled with the men she is with, a geisha is likely to be secretly worrying about a catty rivalry with some other geisha rather than about the men themselves...
...women of Gion are somewhat indifferent to their male customers, the men are all too aware of the women. Many men are boorish and cruel around geisha, and geisha are expected to be subservient to men in everything, but men place geisha on a sort of erotic pedestal. They will pay exorbitant amounts for a geisha's virginity, and the sums they pay to become a geisha's danna, or exclusive sexual partner, could support a family in many cases. The danna is the key distinguishing feature between a geisha and a prostitute; the effort and expense involved in becoming...