Product Description

Published with a new preface, this bestseller offers an intimate glimpse into a unique female community. Liz Dalby, the only non-Japanese woman ever to have trained as a geisha, reveals the realities of geisha life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #163541 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In the mid-1970s, an American graduate student in anthropology joined the ranks of white-powdered geisha in Kyoto, Japan. Liza Dalby took the name Ichigiku and apprenticed in the famed Pontocho district, trailing behind "older sisters" bemused by this long-legged Westerner intent on learning their arts and customs. In Geisha, this observant ethnographer paints an intoxicating picture of the "flower and willow world" to which she gained entry. "Why are you studying geisha?" asks one slightly belligerent older sister. "Geisha are no different from anybody else." Not quite, says Dalby dryly, pointing out that geisha and wives play utterly divergent, though complementary, roles in traditional Japanese society. "Geisha are supposed to be sexy where wives are sober, artistic where wives are humdrum, and witty where wives are serious." While hardly feminists, they reap freedoms unknown to other women. Dalby illustrates broader cultural differences, too, with a million tiny details about boisterous customers, how many hundred-weight of tabi (split-toed socks) geishas go through, what defines iki (chic), why maiko (young apprentices) are drawn to the life, and what geisha wear, from the skin out. Acknowledging that her growing personal stake in the masquerade prevented objectivity, Dalby frees the reader to enjoy a fluid and fascinating look at one aspect of Japanese culture. --Francesca Coltrera

Review
The 'flower and willow world' of the Geisha is devoted exclusively to 'pampering the male ego' and is described in detail by Dalby, an American anthropologist, the only foreigner to become accepted into this close sisterhood and be given a Geisha name, Ichigiku. She weaves cultural references - history, politics, social history, and Japanese humour - with personal experiences into a fascinating web that makes the reader feel as though they have slipped quietly through a secret door into a cultural milieu, unfamiliar and completely alien to Westerners. The subtleties and customs of Japanese tradition are exposed through her own close relationships with her Geisha 'sisters', and through their contact with the men who employed them. Geisha (literally, 'artist') are trained in etiquette, speech, deportment, classical dance and music, and are hired by men to provide wit and entertainment while their wives live quietly at home. This curious split in women's roles is much misunderstood, seen as it is through the eyes and reference points of our own cultures which mistakenly equate Geisha with prostitution. And although studied eroticism and sex are a part of it, Geisha defies such narrow perspectives. They are very much their own women! At one time Geisha were the innovators of Japanese tradition. Now, as Western influences creep in, they are the curators of this formalized, almost stylized femininity with its emphasis on maintaining image and iki (Japanese chic). In an uncomplicated style this book lures the reader into the mood and subtleties of Geisha so that one almost 'tastes' and therefore 'knows' what Geisha means, rather than being given a neat intellectual definition. Dalby introduces this extremely formal living culture to its cultural opposite with a delicate, almost old-fashioned flavour, quite appropriate to the subject, but with meaty detail and deep insight. An utterly compelling read. (Kirkus UK)

A graceful, acute, often moving study of geisha life that does credit both to Dalby's Stanford training as an anthropologist and to her Kyoto training as "Ichiguku, the American geisha." Her own story, indicatively, emerges bit by bit. In the same way, modulating and blending, she answers the most persistent questions about the geisha: are they prostitutes? are they chattel? - putting the questions in proportion and perspective, incorporating them into a "web of significance." (Readers will not need to be reminded of Roland Barthes' Empire of Signs.) We first hear about Dalby's geisha family in Pontocho, the "flower and willow" quarter on the bank of Kyoto's Kamo River: her shrewd ex-geisha oka-san, or geisha mother; her giddy one-san, or older sister, Ichiume (22 to Dalby's 25 - and, horrifically, burned to death in a fire the year after Dalby left). "The 'mothers' of the teahouses, where geisha are employed, are the real businesswomen and entrepreneurs. The geisha are the 'daughters' of these women, living their private and professional lives as older and younger sisters to each other." To customers and other outsiders, "Pontocho is an entire world created for the delectation of men. That is the point, of course, to make them feel that way." (Wives, by contrast, are expected to forgo socializing, sexiness, careers.) It is a life of "glamour and discipline," Japanese-style. "What is the mysterious training a new geisha goes through in order to attend banquets? None other, I discovered, than gaining the experience to converse and joke with men, mostly older men." (Favored customers are witty and charming in turn.) Each Kyoto geisha cultivates an art (gei art + sha person) - classical dancing, singing the traditional nagauta or kouta repertoire, playing the shamisen - to perform not only at banquets, but in elaborate showcase productions. (At a resort area, contrastingly, the geisha party "reeks with prurience" - while "Most Tokyo geisha take apartments" and value the glamour over the art.) Dalby also expands on the historical development of the geisha from "fashion innovators" to (in the 1930s) "curators of tradition"; on geisha chic, "within the subtle limits of Japanese traditional women's dress"; on methods of payment, social "hypocrisy," aging-with-style, men and sex. (One rich, lifelong patron is the norm - with perhaps a boifurendo on the side.) Today? Fewer recruits, a foreshortened apprenticeship, some raveling at the edges; but not yet a relic. More than a fascinating array of facts: perspicacious and haunting. (Kirkus Reviews)

Synopsis
Published with a new preface, this bestseller offers an intimate glimpse into a unique female community. Liz Dalby, the only non-Japanese woman ever to have trained as a geisha, reveals the realities of geisha life.

Customer Reviews

Geisha
In `Geisha' Liza Dalby has managed to write a book studying the lives of Geisha and how their art developed, whilst at the same time making it flow like a novel. This book is an in-depth look at Geisha life and also touches upon general life in Japan as well, which makes for fascinating and captivating reading. It is illustrated throughout with photos and a few charts/graphs to demonstrate points made. Liza is the only (at the time of writing) foreigner to be introduced into the Geisha world and this affords her, and us, with a unique insight into the traditions and lifestyle of Geisha. She writes with genuine humour and with sympathy for the lives Geisha lead and the sacrifices they make for their art and this is passed on to the reader. I found myself completely immersed in the lifestyles and aspirations of those described and had a deeper understanding of Geisha life as a result. An informative read, written in a beautiful way, what more can you ask for?

A wonderful peek into a secret world
It is probably worth mentioning after reading previous reviews of this book, it is NOT fiction like Memoirs Of A Geisha. This is a true life account of an American women living amongst Geisha. Liza Dalby's writing brings to life the secret 'flower and willow' world before the readers very eyes. It is a touching and personal account with well researched facts peppered amongst Liza's own experiences. I would recommend this book to anyone, who like me has a huge interest in the rarely viewed world of the Geisha.

Fact, not Fiction!
This is a very interesting book that gives a valuable insight into the world of geisha. As a more accessible text based on an anthropologist's study, it achieves an in depth look at history, tradition and the geisha world of thirty years ago from the point of view of an outsider who became accepted into the Pontocho community. It is well written and presented in a format that can be dipped in and out of with ease, with excellent notes, glossary and indexing.

Unlike some other reviewers on this page, I have read and re-read this book, and frequently use it for reference. The background information about such topics as the different geisha districts in Kyoto, geisha names etc. is excellent in helping the reader's greater understanding of the subject.

I would recommend following up this book by reading the autobiography "Geisha of Gion", by Mineko Iwasaki, which is a highly personal account by the leading geisha of the 1960s, in contrast to Dalby's more objective study.

Readers, please remember that Arthur Golden's "Memoirs of a Geisha" is fiction! If you are looking for "racy" fiction, full of vague details about "oriental life", this is NOT the book for you...