'There is much mystery and misunderstanding about what it means to be a geisha. Mineko brings to life the beauty and wonder of Gion Kobu, a place that 'existed in a world apart, a special realm whose mission and identity depended on preserving the time-honored traditions of the past.' She illustrates how it coexisted within post-World War II Japan at a time when the country was undergoing its radical transformation from a post-feudal society to a modern one. In Geisha, a Life, Mineko Iwasaki tells her story, from her warm early childhood, to her intense yet privileged upbringing in the Iwasaki okiya (household), to her years as a renowned geisha, and finally, to her decision at the age of twenty-nine to retire and marry, a move that would mirror the demise of geisha culture. Through great pride and determination, she would be hailed as one of the most prized geishas in Japan's history, and one of the last great practitioners of this now fading art form. She would enchant kings and princes, captains of industry, and titans of the entertainment world, some of whom would become her dearest friends. She would learn the formal customs and language of the geisha, and study the ancient arts of Japanese dance and music. For the next twenty-five years, she would live a life filled with extraordinary professional demands and rich rewards.

We have been constrained by unwritten rules not to do so, by the robes of tradition and by the sanctity of our exclusive calling.But I feel it is time to speak out.'Ĭelebrated as the most successful geisha of her generation, Mineko Iwasaki was only five years old when she left her parents' home for the world of the geisha. 'No woman in the three-hundred-year history of the karyukai has ever come forward in public to tell her story.

Life of geisha book