Geisha

By Mineko Iwasaki, Rande Brown,

Book cover of Geisha: A Life

Book description

GEISHA, A LIFE
"No woman in the three-hundred-year history of the karyukai has ever come forward in public to tell her story. 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…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Geisha as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The actual story as told by an actual geisha (rather than the male author of Memoirs of a Geisha), I was absolutely obsessed with this book when I began studying Japanese.

I loved the depictions of Kyoto pre-war and all the festivals, ceremonies, and intricacies that go into the life of a geisha. The post-retirement part of the story is also so real and human, and while it is a much quieter book compared to the sturm and drang of Memoirs of a Geisha, it has a delicate beauty that stuck with me. 

From Chiara's list on books before visiting Japan.

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Interested in Japan, geisha, and Kyoto?

Japan 517 books
Geisha 10 books
Kyoto 22 books