MADAME SADAYAKKO(日本名伎川上贞奴)

The first Japanese actress of modern times, Sadayakko (1871-1946) shared the stage with Isadora Duncan and influenced Puccini's writing of Madame Butterfly. Unfortunately, this biography, a follow-up to Downer's Women of the Pleasure Quarters, never takes wing despite the author's best efforts to track down relatives who still remember the actress, sold by her family to become a geisha at age five. Pieced together from newspaper clippings and writings by contemporaries, the book fails to capture the excitement of Sadayakko's success. Like many geisha, who were considered social outcasts, Sadayakko married into the theater at age 19 by choosing a husband, Otojiro, from among the "riverbed beggars," as actors were then known. She joined him on stage during his troupe's first American tour, but soon she became a bigger star than he. Otojiro founded New Wave drama, or shimpa, which was much less stylized than traditional kabuki, yet Downer makes a strong case that Sadayakko was every bit as important as Otojiro to the development of Japanese theater. But Sadayakko, who was eager to support her husband, left no record to indicate the exact nature of her role, if any, in the development of his plays. After Otojiro's death, Sadayakko continued to act and to train other young actresses. Although Sadayakko was a captivating character, Downer doesn't come up with enough facts to present an equally captivating story.

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A critically acclaimed author tells the enthralling true story of the real Madame Butterfly, a woman who became the most celebrated geisha in Japan and the first to tour the West.

At twenty-nine, she captivated the world’s stage. From San Francisco to New York, Paris, and Berlin, audiences thrilled to her mesmeric acting and exquisite dancing. She performed for the American President and for the Prince of Wales in London. Picasso painted her. Gide, Debussy, Degas, and Rodin were among her devoted fans. She was Sadayakko, Japan’s most notorious geisha—and its first international superstar.

In Italy, Puccini was working on Madame Butterfly. He had the plot for his opera, but he had yet to see a real live flesh-and-blood Japanese woman—until Sadayakko arrived with her troupe of traveling actors.

Madame Sadayakko is the true story of this extraordinary woman—muse to writers, artists, and fashion designers. Her adventures lift the veil on the secretive world of the geisha and reveal a missing piece of history from the turn of the last century, when Japanese women wore bustles and learned the waltz and women in the West wore Sadayakko kimonos.

Lesley Downer is the author of On the Narrow Road, which was short-listed for the Thomas Cook Travel Book of the Year Award; The Brothers: The Hidden World of Japan’s Richest Family, chosen as a New York Times Notable Book; and the highly acclaimed Women of the Pleasure Quarters. A frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, Ms. Downer divides her time between London and New York.

Acknowledgments
Note on Pronunciation
Prologue-In Search of Sadayakko
Part I geisha
CHAPTER l-The Geisha and the Farm Boy: 1871-1885
CHAPTER 2-The Prime Minister's Favorite: 1885-1888
CHAPTER 3-The Liberty Kid: 1888-1896
Part II Actress
CHAPTER 4-Setting Sail: 1896-1899
CHAPTER 5-"And How This Geisha Dances!": Lost in America, 1899-1900
CHAPTER 6-"The Witchery of Salome's Art":Boston to London, 1900
CHAPTER 7-"An Opium Hallucination of the Far East":Paris Swoons, 1900-1901
CHAPTER 8-The Real Madame Butterfly: Europe, 1901-1903
CHAPTER 9-Secrets of a Woman's Heart:Performing in Japan, 1903-1911
Part III Mistress
CHAPTER 10-Wild Chrysanthemum: 1911-1917
CHAPTER 11-In the Shadow of the Peach Tree: 1917-1946
Epilogue
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index