Memoirs of a Geisha

Much of the appeal this book had for me was the thought that I was reading through pages taken from the life of a real geisha, Sayuri. Reading the book made me feel as if I was treading the path she had once taken and that I was revisiting the glitzy Gion in Kyoto back in early 20^th century with the “legendary” geisha as she recounts her story, in what I would imagine to be a tone that is gentle and elegant, thus befitting the image of a geisha in my mind, but also perhaps one that hints of world-weariness; yet at the same time, there might be an overlay of excitement in revealing her life story to the masses, making it seem as though Sayuri was once again catapulted into limelight.

You can imagine my disappointment when I realised that the book is but a work of fiction. In my research, I realised that I was far from being the only one who was misled. Apparently, what is misleading is the “translator’s note” at the beginning of the book. It makes it seem as though the book is a biography that reveals the secret life of a geisha. I did notice that the “translator’s” name is different from that of the author, but I did not stop to think that the note was merely a literary device used to involve the reader. My doubts only surfaced when I got to the end of the book, where the author states that the whole story about Sayuri is fabricated, although the “facts” of the lifestyle pertaining to geishas are real. The interesting thing is that, when I told my American colleague (he read the book long ago) about this, he simply refused to believe that the story is fabricated, and from what he said, you can be sure that he will be one of those ardent fans of Sayuri, eagerly buying tickets when the movie hits theatres eventually, having been passed from one director to another for a pretty decent length of time already.

After recovering from the momentary disappointment, I decided that the book no longer enthralled me due to the “authenticity” of the account, but that it only continues to impress me due to the superb writing in which the facts are presented through the compelling portrayals of the ravishing but evil Hatsumomo, the not-as-ravishing but still compellingly attractive and exceedingly successful Mameha, and of course, Nitta Sayuri herself, as she metamorphosed from a simple village girl to a troubled slave girl who couldn’t fathom how her predicament had turned out to be so different from what she imagined it to be. Of course, the change in fortunes was only to be more dramatic when she became a geisha, as rich and powerful men came to feature prominently in her life, in peace and in war. I appreciate the Golden’s writing especially because he is no native Japanese speaker, but yet, the idioms and expressions he uses sounded so much like what a competent Japanese speaker of English would use. And overall, his writing is detailed and careful, deliberate and natural. Especially due to the subtleties he conveys in his writing, it was all the more convincing that those were the words of a real geisha. Perhaps, indeed, many of them could have been, as he did talk to Iwasaki Mineko, (again) a legendary retired geisha for research purposes. And when I tried to establish certain links between what is said in the book and what it is in real life, there do seem to be parallels, although the author could have deliberately created such historical “coincidences”.

Perhaps it is just as well that the story is fictional. As a friend put it, you can’t make it as interesting if you only stick to facts. Look at Iwasaki Mineko’s “Geisha, a Life”, the reaction to Golden’s “betrayal” of the anonymity promise and “lopsided” portrayal of geishas that results in the furtherance of the mixup between prostitutes and geishas. That is supposed to be more “true” and “accurate” compared to “Memoirs”. But how many have read it, or even heard of it? It is an irony, but while most of us want to read something “real”, we don’t often find the “real” thing entertaining enough. Over-romanticizations can be irritating but understated writing isn’t exactly gonna bring in the bucks! One can be sure that when the movie version is released (with an almost all-Chinese cast playing the roles of the main geisha characters (!!!)), there will be a barrage of complaints about inaccuracies and perpetuations of untruths; but at the end of the day, it is just what it is, a movie - not even a film.