Memoirs of a Geisha: A trainwreck of cultural violation

Lo and behold: one of the most controversial books I have ever read – and while I see the need to be charitable about books insofar that it represents the authorial self and values, I have no qualms about criticising this. Honestly, even within my reading circle, everyone agrees that this book is quite a disaster, particularly since it commits major cultural faux-pas by imposing and projecting on the Japanese and geisha culture. 

Nonetheless, putting aside my impassioned speech for a minute, perhaps we can start with some context.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Memoirs of a Geisha was written by the eponymous American author, Arthur Golden. Classed as a historical fiction, it details the story of Chiyo (geisha name: Sayuri) who was born into a coastal fishing village, before being sold into an okiya where she undergoes arduous training to become a maiko (apprentice geisha). After becoming a popular maiko, she quickly ‘turns the collar’ and becomes a full-fledged geisha. Compared to earlier years that were abound with dramatics and jealous opponents, she quickly rises to a height of staggering success and fame in the community. The story pretty much tells itself at this point, with several meandering subplots and twists.

*To add a disclaimer, since this book is a whopping 448 pages, that was a very condensed summary; it barely captures the novel’s essence, much less its subplots and finer details.

Background of Memoirs of a Geisha

Much of the book’s contents are premised off Golden’s 1992 conversations with Mineko Iwasaki, one of – if not the most – famous geisha at the height of her fame during the 60s and 70s. Initially, Golden contacted Iwasaki to get ahold of insider information, especially since the geisha community practiced much discretion with its culture. To his end, he promised that he would deliver reliable information, and keep her identity confidential.

To her dismay, Golden fell short on his promises, and after the Japanese edition was published, Iwasaki sued Golden for the violation of confidentiality. Beyond these ethical mishaps, the work is painfully wrought with several terrible inaccuracies and missteps. His mistakes are essentially cleaved into two parts – identity breaches, and poor fact-finding.

  • Identity crises

One of Golden’s first missteps was his breach of confidentiality. Despite promising to keep her identity secret, he writes in the acknowledgement page, “In the course of my extensive research I am indebted to one individual above all others. Mineko Iwasaki, one of Gion’s top geisha…” (p. 433).

This gave rise to a rather confusing situation: On one hand, Golden claims that Iwasaki never acceded to confidentiality, and even alleges the possession of recorded tapes on their conversations. On another hand, Iwasaki remains unwavering in her position, and contests that she never consented to have her name in the book.

Eventually, to settle the score between the two, Golden’s publisher settled with Iwasaki out of court. An undisclosed amount was compensated.

As for who was telling the truth in this situation, I guess that’s something we’ll never know. Regardless, the consequences remain. Since Iwasaki was the only geisha who was identified and ‘outed’ by Golden, she fell out with a lot of friends for perceivably breaching the geisha code of silence. This was something that Golden could never compensate for.

  • Fact-finding gone wrong

Another oversight was Golden’s cultural faux-pas in his description of the mizuage. Traditionally speaking, a mizuage is a crucial rite of passage in a geisha’s life when she ‘turns the collar’ (i.e. graduates from a maiko to a geiko/geisha). As per the customs, a maiko has to go through this coming-of-age ceremony by undergoing a series of symbolic rituals. This comprises a change in hairstyles, as well as visits to benefactors.

In the book, however, Golden described the mizuage as Sayuri needing to sell off her virginity to her most generous benefactor/patron/customer. While this was the case in the past, such a practice was implicitly condemned through the 1956 Anti-Prostitution Law. Eventually, selling off a girl’s virginity under the mizuage practice was also outlawed in 1959. This meant that maiko-turned-geikos need not sleep with their patrons, nor be coerced into it. For the most part, a mizuage is expected to be non-sexual. Further clarified by Iwasaki, the mizuage ritual as depicted by Golden, does not exist in Gion.

That being said, a geisha’s experiences may not wholly align with geishas in the Gion or other districts; sexual exploitation was still rampant in the 50s, and the Anti-Prostitution Law, according to Norma (2008), barely did a “dent” to the prostitution scene, and even failed to prosecute covert and criminal acts of sexual exploitation. Indeed, while mizuages are considered different, the covert nature of the flower and willow world could tempt proprietresses of okiyas to sell and resell ‘virginities’ to roll in more cash. It’s more of the case of: No one would know, anyway. Yet, if this was the case, then it is incriminating, crooked, and unethical, and should be labelled and sanctioned accordingly – not romanticised. Golden, instead of following through on such moral dues, freely waxes on about the mizuage and how special a moment it is for Sayuri. 

Why this may be the case may be a result of how ‘untouchable’ the geisha world is. Given that the arts are touted to be a huge part of the geisha scene and that maiko and geiko are perceived as ‘socially acceptable’ hostesses rather than prostitutes, this has unintentionally condoned sexual acts and even allowed them to thrive. Still, apart from skewing historical facts, this can paint a rather rosy picture of what is and should be condemned as sexually exploitative.

Another factor to consider is the audience. Since this book aims to ‘educate’ persons who are unacquainted with the geisha culture, this can foster imaginings scaled on huge cultural misrepresentations. What’s more, given the fascinating and ‘exoticised’ nature of the book, many might equate its happenings to actual factual events. This can perpetuate myths and undermine the basis of geisha culture as a whole.

This might also clue into why Iwasaki was so insistent on her stance, as without a response or clarification, she could be defamed and lose her status entirely. (Which, sadly, she still did.)

Personal thoughts

This book was propulsive and enticing for all the wrong reasons. I found myself wanting reasons to excuse this trainwreck of a piece. At a point, I convinced myself that if I read on, something would change – that Golden could redeem himself through some unassailable writing that didn’t prove to border on a terrible mockery of Japanese writing and culture. Sadly, that was not the case. This genuinely reads like one of my last-minute, grudgingly-done assignments where I’ve very clearly burnt the midnight oil to finish.

Personally, my main gripe wasn’t even the poor fact-finding and lack of cross-referencing. It was the writing that eventually got to me. As it’s a first-person narrative depicted through the lens of a young Japanese girl who grows into a geiko, the book reads like a cheap imitation of the translated Japanese language. Some parts made me want to tear my hair out, and as a fellow GoodReads user captures:

“…[What] I came away with was the sense that Golden was an American trying really hard to sound Japanese–that is, the effect betrayed the attempt and the obvious attempt ruined the sincerity of the novel, for me. I felt like I was being smacked over the head with beauty! wood! water! kimono! haiku! …and I felt insulted and disappointed.”

— @juushika on GoodReads

It doesn’t stop there. Golden not only desecrated the discretion and beauty of geishas, but shaped the geisha culture into a theatrical circus as well. To some extent, most authors would attempt to spice up their plot to attract and engage with more readers. Yet, he didn’t just spice it up; at various junctures, Golden appears to take the geisha culture and run freely with it.

One example is Hatsumomo’s catty and jealous behaviour. As the okiya’s top-earner, Hatsumomo – a narcissistic and beautiful geisha – revulsed Sayuri, who was well-placed to take over her position in the future, and be inducted as an apprentice and ‘younger sister’ to her. In turn, she resorted to every desperate measure to cow Sayuri into quitting. This meant the employment of tricks, threats, false accusations of thievery, and premeditated sabotages. Needless to say, Sayuri persisted and was ultimately adopted by an ‘older sister’ geisha from another okiya. This cat-and-mouse game goes on for another unknown number of pages –– which, I must say, makes for a truly scathing and dramaturgical piece. If you have to know what happens, Hatsumomo eventually falls off and spirals into a somewhat ‘pathetic’ figure of a defeated geisha.

While drama can be entertaining to read, I simply can’t make this any more straightforward than it already is: Drama just isn’t a geisha’s thing – much less in-line with their delicate culture and practice. Reading Hatsumomo’s schemes felt painful, needless, and out of character for a geisha. As Iwasaki chooses to contradict, she herself depended on companionship and friends during her time as a geisha; and in spite of the taxing nature of being a geisha, this encouraged her to keep her head in the game – at least up till the point of her retirement. Unfortunately, Golden’s deliberate twists and turns often came at the expense of respecting Japanese and geisha cultural norms – and as I know no kinder way of phrasing, this just reads like a cash-grab.

I really tried

Insofar as it can be said, I gave the novel a fair shot; but from the translator’s note to the acknowledgements page, I combed it front-to-back, and could not find a lick of it that was actually worth liking. So, what I tried to do was to pick up Iwasaki’s memoir to overwrite the erratic facts conceived within Golden’s piece.

Unfortunately, I can’t find it in me to say that it’s very good either. While it’s digestible and interesting for its real geisha pictures and autobiographical tone, it barely skims the surface of geisha culture, much less her life. It felt like I was hyper-speeding from point A to B, then B to C, then suddenly C to G; and having gone through the harrowing experience of Golden’s book, this didn’t feel cathartic in the slightest. Instead, it reads like a ventilation of her childhood traumas, and a hasty defense against Golden’s assertions, though I must say – that only his faults, rather than his name – are explicitly mentioned.

The copy I own of Geisha of Gion (i.e. Geisha, a Life) by Mineko Iwasaki

The copy I own of Geisha of Gion (i.e. Geisha, a Life) by Mineko Iwasaki

I guess the best word to put to it is reactionary. It didn’t feel like it was written because she wanted to cover her life; it felt like she wrote it as a way of telling the world that Golden was wrong, wrong, wrong –– which he was, of course, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that the memoir isn’t a very quality coverage of her life.

Maintaining a respectful distance

Putting aside the moral culpability of both parties, one fact remains: This book is undeniably fraught with errors. Ultimately, then, maybe what we need isn’t a book to correct the facts, but an acceptance towards the fact that it is impossible to understand the geisha community in a phenomenological sense, particularly if we are never going to live through it. As evidenced by these catastrophes, unlocking the secrets of the geisha community can unleash an undesirable series of consequences; something akin to a Pandora’s Box. Furthermore, this is in direct dissonance with the code of silence in the geisha community. At the end of the day, when we want to rest our laurels and move on from this piece, perhaps the best move is to just stay quiet.

After all that, what can be said is this: What happens in the okiya, stays in the okiya. So let’s lay low, hush up, and never speak of this again. (Thank you.)

By: Yuki Koh Suat Nee