Book Review: Geisha of Gion
★★★☆☆ (3/5, Liked It)
My Rating: ★★★☆☆
Content warning: This book contains first-hand descriptions of sexual assault, rape and emotional abuse. Be advised, and take care of yourself.
Intro & Summary
Geisha of Gion (published as Geisha: A Life in the United States) is “the true story of Japan’s greatest geisha,” Mineko Iwasaki, in her own words and translated by Rande Brown.
Iwasaki previously gave an interview to Arthur Golden to help with research for his book, which would become Memoirs of a Geisha. This was done under the promise of anonymity. Golden reneged on that promise and credited Iwasaki in his book, which not only copied some of Iwasaki’s life but also conflated geisha (who are musicians and performers) with courtesans (who are sex workers). Iwasaki sued Golden, and they settled out of court. Then she wrote her own, factual account of her life, which was published as Geisha: A Life in 2002, 5 years after the publication of Memoirs.
Despite not enjoying memoirs and biographies, I wanted to give this book a try, both to learn about the life and world of an actual geisha (or geiko, as they’re called in Kyoto), and to experience Iwasaki take back her story after being exploited as the unwitting root of so much misinformation.
Iwasaki, Mineko. Geisha of Gion: The True Story of Japan’s Greatest Geisha. Translated by Rande Brown. London: Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2002.
Readability
As mentioned above, I don’t like memoirs or biographies. I often find myself caught up thinking about how clearly the writers or subjects seem to remember events and questioning how much is fictionalised. On the other hand, when a broad brush is used to recount events, the work lacks much of the grip of a good narrative. This genre just isn’t for me.
That said, I flew through this book simply because the writing style made it easy to read. It’s not juvenile or amateurish by any means, and some of the topics are pretty heavy. But the text is straightforward and almost conversational. Iwasaki goes into the most detail when it comes to her feelings and emotions, as well as the tools and principles of her trade as a geiko.
Learning
I went into this hoping to learn about the world of geiko in Kyoto, and while there was a good amount of that I felt a bit like the book oversold that aspect.
As a memoir, naturally the focus is on Mineko Iwasaki’s life, from early childhood until just after she retired from her work as a geiko. This means that a lot of the content (if we discount everything in her early childhood leading up to her coming to live at the okiya where she would train) isn’t specifically about working in Gion.
Iwasaki was a busy woman with incredible drive to be the best at what she did, for various reasons described in the text. It’s impressive, and she very nearly works herself to death at one point. But I honestly feel like I learned more about maiko (apprentice geiko) and the path to becoming geiko from the Netflix series The Makanai, which is based on a fictional manga. It’s really good, and I highly recommend it if you’re interested in the life of a trainee maiko. (I watched it in Japanese with subtitles, but there’s an English dub too.)
Would I Read It Again?
No.
This is one of those books that I’m glad I read but will never touch again.
It’s going into the donate pile so it hopefully ends up in the hands of someone else who can appreciate it more than me.