GEISHA, A Life
Mineko Iwasaki, with Rande Brown. . Atria, $25 (304pp) ISBN 978-0-7434-4432-3
From age five, Iwasaki trained to be a geisha (or, as it was called in her Kyoto district, a geiko), learning the intricacies of a world that is nearly gone. As the first geisha to truly lift the veil of secrecy about the women who do such work (at least according to the publisher), Iwasaki writes of leaving home so young, undergoing rigorous training in dance and other arts and rising to stardom in her profession. She also carefully describes the origins of Kyoto's Gion Kobu district and the geiko system's political and social nuances in the 1960s and '70s. Although it's an autobiography, Iwasaki's account will undoubtedly be compared to the stunning fictional description of the same life in Arthur Golden's
Reviewed on: 09/09/2002
Genre: Nonfiction
Paperback - 320 pages - 978-0-7434-4429-3