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FILM LIST
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Memoirs of a Geisha A Gentle Stroll through Japanese Culture Some films are rapid gallops, careening viewers wildly through their plots. Not Memoirs of a Geisha. It's a slow saunter, a film which takes us by the hand and sedately escorts us through a Japanese culture completely removed from our own. In fact, it does so good a job at immersing us in the rarefied geisha culture, that it's somewhat jarring late in the film when a few Americans appear on the scene. Who are these loud creatures, with their slouched posture, their gum chewing, and their loose limbs? But ultimately the Americans are just a minor subplot. This film keeps us focused on the exotic world of the geisha, in their heyday before the Second World War. Here are answers to some questions viewers may have about the time
and the culture. He would then take her to Kyoto's "pleasure quarters" (the geisha district) and sell her as a maid. The geisha house registered the payment for her as a debt against her future earnings as an adult geisha. The debt also included every yen the house subsequently spent to feed, clothe, and school her. And no, her child labor as a maid earned her nothing. Q. Did Japanese geisha really speak English? Q. Is geisha just a glorified name for a prostitute? But part of their training, as the film showed, was in the arts of looking and acting seductively. They were trained to make men feel good, and they were so skilled at it that men paid huge amounts simply for the privilege of being around them. Q. So, no sex for sale at all? Well, sort of. Some sources suggest that there was some "selling of bodies" going on. In the film we see lots of money exchanging hands in the mizuage ritual, a coming-of-age ritual when a young apprentice geisha essentially "sold" her virginity to the highest bidder. It sounds sleazy, and certainly couldn't have been much fun for the teenage apprentice. But the mizuage ritual was important for her in a couple of ways. If, like Sayuri, her mizuage fetched a high price, her debt to her geisha house could be reduced or even eliminated. Also, no apprentice could become a full geisha without the mizuage ceremony. The film doesn't really show it, but after her ritual mizuage, the young geisha immediately began "advertising" her new status as a full-fledged geisha, by wearing her hair, makeup, and kimono in subtly different ways. (UPDATE -- 1/31/07) Mineko Iwasaki, the geisha on whom Arthur
Golden based his 1997 bestselling novel, Memoirs of a Geisha,
has now sued Golden for misrepresenting certain aspects of geisha
life. In a
recent interview Iwasaki insists that a geisha's virginity was
never sold, and likens the mizuage to a coming-of-age ceremony (like
a Sweet 16 party) which simply involved graduating to a different
hairstyle and wardrobe. Hmmm. She should know, I guess. But it does
beg the question for me as to how apprentice geishas paid off their
initial huge debt to their geisha house? Other sources I've read
say that the mizuage payment helped enormously with that. If I read
anything more definitive on this, I'll update again. Q. How else did geishas make money? But they didn't come cheap. The equivalent price today for one evening of entertainment with a few geisha would be around $3000. Q. What was a danna? The relationship between a geisha and her danna was a more formal arrangement than a Western man would have with a mistress. A mistress can be dumped quicker than you can say "Fatal Attraction." But a danna typically treated his geisha as a second wife, fathering children with her, and supporting her very comfortably for decades. Q. When did geisha culture die out? Today's apprentice geishas live at home and take geisha classes as teenagers, in the same way American girls might take ballet. In fact, geishas today treat it more as an occupation than a lifestyle, often trying it out for a few years before moving on to marriage or to a different job. Q. Where can I get more information? This column ran in the Joliet Herald News on 12/25/05
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