Geisha: A Life

Mineko Iwasaki was five when she began her lifelong training in the rigorous arts of dance and etiquette. She made her debut as a "maiko," an apprentice geisha, at fifteen. On her twenty-first birthday, she exchanged the crimson collar she wore around her neck for a white one, symbolizing her status as a full-fledged geisha. She became the star geisha of the exclusive Gion Kobu of Kyoto, captivating a legion of fans from the celebrated stages of the Gion Theatre. Crowned heads and heads of state vied for her favors. She was on intimate terms with Japan's most powerful businessmen and celebrities. Then, at twenty-nine - at the height of her fame - she abruptly left the public eye.

Breaking three centuries of silence for the first time, Iwasaki shares her remarkable journey, set against the backdrop of Japanese mores and customs during the 1960s and seventies. With acclaimed translator Rande Brown, Iwasaki recreates the geisha life, from its illusive enchantments to its harsher realities. In this extraordinary story of a woman who embraced, then rejected, the shackles of her country's submissive traditions, "Geisha: A Life" opens a fascinating window on sex, love, gender identity, fame, and feminism in modern-day Japan.