She also studied dance, music, and the traditional and intricate details of the Japanese tea ceremony. From the age of five until she was fifteen, she was trained in stylized movements, from the way to use a fan to how to walk, a style of short steps that make the geisha appear to be floating. She was subsequently adopted by the Iwasaki family and became heir and successor to the Iwasaki geisha house when she was ten. It was something she knew she wanted to do since she was only three. She looked upon her early entry as a privilege and honor. Iwasaki entered into the world of the geisha when she was only five years old. The result, stated a Kirkus Reviews writer, provides a 'valuable look at a little-known world.' Geisha and entering the twentieth-century, she set out to clear the misconceptions. However, Iwasaki became frustrated by the public misunderstanding of her profession, and after retiring from her role as

One of them is the rule of silence that is, geishas are told that they should never reveal the details of their lives to the outside world. The world of the geisha is constrained by many ancient rules. However, until Iwasaki wrote her memoirs, no one in the three-hundred-year history of the profession had ever read an account of the life of a geisha from inside that secretive world. Mineko Iwasaki, in writing her memoir Geisha, a Life, tries to illuminate the profession to which she dedicated almost three decades of her life, retiring from her role while she was at the height of her career and considered one of the most famous of all geishas.Īmerican literary views of the geisha range from John Patrick's dramatization of Teahouse of the August Moon, published in 1954, to Arthur Golden's 1997 book Memoirs of a Geisha. The veil of mystery is part of the illusion necessary for the practicing geisha, but some of that mystery is caused by misunderstandings.

SIDELIGHTS: Mystery surrounds the world of the Japanese geisha, both in Japan as well as in other countries of the world.

Geisha, a Life, Atria Books ( New York, NY), 2002. ADDRESSES: Agent-c/o Atria Books, Simon & Schuster Publicity Dept., 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

Mineko iwasaki book