Autobiography of a Geisha

The glamorous world of Kyoto's geisha is familiar to many readers but Sayo Masuda's tale tells a different story, one that bears little resemblance to the elegant geisha quarters frequented by illustrious patrons. Masuda was a geisha at a rural hot-springs resort where the realities of sex for sale were unadorned by the trappings of wealth and power. Sent to work as a nursemaid at the age of six she was then sold to a geisha house at the age of twelve to learn the geisha arts. When she made her debut as a geisha in 1940 she was sixteen. Although she had barely learnt to write Masuda was determined to set down her story, motivated by the desire to tell the truth about life as a geisha and explode the myths surrounding their secret world. Remarkably frank and incredibly moving, this is the record of one woman's survival on the margins of Japanese society.

Book Description
The glamorous world of Kyoto's geisha is familiar to many readers but Sayo Masuda's tale tells a different story, one that bears little resemblance to the elegant geisha quarters frequented by illustrious patrons. Masuda was a geisha at a rural hot-springs resort where the realities of sex for sale were unadorned by the trappings of wealth and power. Sent to work as a nursemaid at the age of six she was then sold to a geisha house at the age of twelve to learn the geisha arts. When she made her debut as a geisha in 1940 she was sixteen. Although she had barely learnt to write Masuda was determined to set down her story, motivated by the desire to tell the truth about life as a geisha and explode the myths surrounding their secret world. Remarkably frank and incredibly moving, this is the record of one woman's survival on the margins of Japanese society.

Amazon.com
Sayo Masuda’s Autobiography of a Geisha offers a story of unremitting hardship faced by a hot-springs geisha, a virtual indentured sex-slave in pre-World War II Japan.

Born in 1925, Masuda began work as a nursemaid at age 5 and suffered a childhood of emotional and material poverty. She was then sold to the Takenoya geisha house in Upper Suwa at age 12. While her food and clothing were provided for by Takenoya, she was subject to constant verbal abuse as an apprentice. At one point, she was heaved down the stairs by her "Mother" (the name she uses for the proprietor of the geisha house) and nearly lost a leg. During her recovery, she attempted suicide and further injured herself.

Eventually, Masuda mastered the art of seduction as a geisha. The middle portion of the narrative is taken up with stories of her successful campaign for a danna (patron), of her brother’s tragic suicide, and of her star-crossed love affair with a Japanese politician.

Autobiography of a Geisha, translated for the first time into English by G. G. Rowley, was published in Japan in 1957 and has been in print in Japan steadily ever since. The tale is rendered in a simple English prose to reflect Masuda’s own, untrained style (she did not have schooling and she only learned to write hiragana script later in life). For Western readers, Masuda’s autobiography is a gift: a glimpse into the dark reality behind one of the most shrouded institutions in Japanese culture.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　--Patrick O’Kelley

From Publishers Weekly
Masuda's account of being a geisha in rural Japan at a hot springs resort is at once intriguing and heartbreaking. There is nothing idyllic in her description of geisha training or life between the world wars. Born in 1925, Masuda was sent to work for a wealthy landowner when she was five. At 12, she was sold to a geisha house for about 30 yen, the price of a bag of rice. During those years, Masuda writes, "I wasn't even able to wonder why I didn't have any parents or why I should be the only one who was tormented. If you ask me what I did know then, it was only that hunger was painful and human beings were terrifying." Originally published in Japan in 1957, where it is still in print, this book grew out of an article that Masuda, who didn't learn to read and write until she was in her 20s, submitted for a contest in Housewife's Companion magazine. Her picaresque adventures as a geisha, then mistress, factory worker, gang moll and caretaker for her young brother offer an impassioned plea for valuing children. "Never give birth to children thoughtlessly!" she writes. "That is why, stroke by faltering stroke, I've written all this down."

From Booklist
The geisha profession has been romanticized in literature, but Masuda exposes the underside of the geisha lifestyle. Masuda was sold to a geisha house in the hot-spring resort town of Suwa, far from the teahouses of Kyoto. Though she is educated at the geisha house, the housemother there is demanding and cruel. When Masuda interferes to help her friend Karuta, the only geisha who befriends her, the housemother throws her down the stairs for her troubles. Most of the other geishas are no kinder to her--they call her "low" because they believe her to be stupid. Her virginity is sold to a man known as Cockeye, who is three times her age. Cockeye eventually buys her contract from the geisha house, but when Masuda finds herself in love with a dashing soldier, she risks being banished from Cockeye's house to a life of even more uncertainty. Originally written in 1957 and now translated into English for the first time by Rowley, Masuda's memoir is a must-read for those interested in the lives of geishas.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Kristine Huntley

Book Dimension :
length: (cm)18 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)11.8

Acknowledgments
Tranlator's Introduction
HAPTER1.A Litle Dog,Abandoned and Terrified
Little Crane the nursemaid
The eyes of the oxen glow in the dark
I,too had a mother
CHAPTER 2.The Sunburned Novice
The dream palace
Geisha shool
I want to be a geisha,right now
My four Elder Sisters
The death of Elder Sister Takemi
The hot iron
The scar
I learn my name
Cruel rules
I devote myself to art
CHAPTER 3.Miss Low Gets Wise
Shallow river
A secert place
The new novice
The sleep-with-anyone geisha
How to be cute and sexy
CHAPTER 4 Bird in a cage
My first customer
The geisha temperamennt
Miscarrige
Thou shalt not love
In the Party business
Tip taker
Tsukiko's suicide
Revenge
CHAPTER 5.Awakening to love
Number Two and Number Three
Tricks of the love trade
The witcher bewitched
Ture love
Attempted suicide
CHAPTER 6.Wanderings of a Castaway
CHAPTER 7.A Dream for My Little Brother
CHAPTER 8.The Depths of Despair
CHAPTER 9.The Road Back to Life
Afterword
Epilogue.A Single White chrysanshemum for General MacArthur
Notes
Bibliography