Memoirs of a Geisha

Sayuri is surprised when Mother calls her into her room one day and says that she has earned more than Hatsumomo and Pumpkin combined in the last six months. Mother has decided that Sayuri should move into the largest room of the okiya, but Sayuri is still wary of Hatsumomo, whom she sees as a sleeping tiger. This wariness proves to be well-founded when she finds Hatsumomo snooping through her diary. She has not been foolish enough to write about all her actions, but she has been recording her thoughts and feelings. She has tried to conceal the names of the people she refers to, but Hatsumomo finds their identities easy to work out. 

Hatsumomo takes the diary back to her own room and Sayuri follows her, spotting the brooch that Hatsumomo accused her of stealing years earlier. Hatsumomo is initially dismissive when she notices Sayuri looking at her jewelry, saying that Sayuri will have to pay her if she decides to take anything. However, her manner changes when Sayuri holds up the brooch. As she sits in a daze, Sayuri picks up the diary.

Sayuri’s instinct is to go to Mother with the brooch, but she is worried about the diary. She therefore stashes it in a spot where no one will think to look for it before taking the brooch to Mother, informing her that it was the one that Hatsumomo accused her of stealing. She says that she found it in Hatsumomo’s room, while Hatsumomo says that she found it hidden in Sayuri’s makeup stand. Hatsumomo then reveals that Sayuri has been keeping a diary, and she insists that she will fetch it. Still, Sayuri is conscious that Hatsumomo has lost the leverage that she once held. 

Hatsumomo fails to locate the diary, and Mother says that she will have to repay the money Sayuri was forced to pay as punishment for stealing. Hatsumomo glares at Sayuri, and Sayuri sees this as the turning point in their relationship because they have now become equals. Hatsumomo knows that Mother will no longer take her side, and Sayuri feels that Hatsumomo has “gradually been afflicted by some sort of disease of the character” (371). 

Since a wounded tiger is still dangerous, Mameha insists they continue to follow Hatsumomo around and make her life difficult. This provokes Hatsumomo’s anger and, thanks to Mameha, rumors circulate that she is losing her mind. By this point, though, Sayuri does not take any pleasure in this situation and she even feels a shred of pity for Hatsumomo.

Hatsumomo’s temper becomes increasingly volatile, and she even becomes violent towards one of the men she is meant to be entertaining. The situation is calmed by the mistress of the teahouse in question, but Hatsumomo’s reputation is beyond repair and Mother forces her to leave the okiya. A few years later, Sayuri hears a rumor that she has become a prostitute, and she speculates that she may have gone on to drink herself to death. 

Sayuri and the other maids in the okiya have been so used to putting up with Hatsumomo that they feel her absence keenly. Pumpkin, in particular, seems at a loss. Sayuri thinks of her often in the ensuing years, remembering her smirk and her malicious lies.

During the Depression and World War II, people in Gion do not suffer as badly as those in other parts of the country. This is because the mistresses of powerful men receive a great deal of good fortune that is then passed onto others. As Mameha predicted, General Tottori proves to be a useful ally. However, in December 1942 a military policeman arrives at the okiya, stating that the General has been taken into custody. Within a week, the okiya is stripped of all its benefits; moreover, people have begun to worry about the prospect of the military government shutting down the geisha districts. This would mean many geisha having to seek work in factories.

The closure of the geisha districts is announced in January, and geisha frantically look to the men in their lives for help. Sayuri knows that she is not the only geisha acquainted with the General, so she tries to get to him before anyone else does. She finds him at the inn where they used to meet and can see that he has suffered considerably. He says that various geisha have already visited him and that that he is powerless. He also says that life from now on will be miserable for the lucky ones—those who are unlucky will not even live to see the end of the war. He concludes that, if Sayuri wants to live, she should find someone who will conceal her from the military.

Mameha is also in a panic, as the Baron will not help her and she has not been able to reach the other men who might help her. As for Sayuri, she has been out of touch with Nobu for four years and the Chairman’s own troubles with the military have been well-publicized. She goes from teahouse to teahouse in an attempt to find help, and is surprised to find Nobu at the Ichiriki. He summons her and says that he is disappointed in her for having been involved with the General. Sayuri replies that he is no longer her danna, and Nobu says that this is exactly the point: the General failed to conserve what (little) influence he had for Sayuri. 

Nobu says that he can save Sayuri from the factories but will not do so until she has admitted that she has been wrong. She does as instructed, and Nobu says that he hopes she has learnt where her destiny lies. She says that it lies with the man who runs Iwamura Electric, and Nobu thinks that she is referring to him, when, really, she is thinking of the Chairman. He then tells her that he has secured her a place at the home of the kimono maker, Arashino Isamu. Kimono makers have been assigned the job of sewing parachutes, and Nobu believes that this is a task that Sayuri can learn quickly. Once again Sayuri feels that she is being uprooted.

Sayuri feels deeply indebted during her time with the Arashino family; especially when she learns that another geisha has been killed in the firebombing of Tokyo. She also learns that one cannot predict who will survive and who will not. Mameha has survived and is working in a hospital, and Pumpkin is also lucky, given that the factory where she works has been bombed multiple times. The Baron has also survived, but we learn that he later kills himself in the early years of the Allied Occupation, as he cannot bear to live in a world where he is not free to act as he pleases. Despite the atmosphere of uncertainty, Sayuri was sure that Mother would survive. In fact, she naturally falls into the gray market and becomes richer rather than poorer.

The Arashino family treats Sayuri with kindness, but she nevertheless becomes so thin that none of her former acquaintances would recognize her. She wonders what has become of her sister and realizes that, since they last met, she has been harboring the belief that they will be reunited somehow. Now, however, she feels that this is impossible; not least because the war has made travelling to a faraway city impossible.

Sayuri reflects that adversity “tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that afterward we see ourselves as we really are, and not merely as we might like to be” (398). She now sees that, beneath the elegant clothing and social engagements that she enjoyed as a geisha, her life has no complexity. Her purpose during the last ten years had been to win the Chairman’s affections, but, though he had been kind, he had never shown any sign of recognition that she was the girl he encountered all those years earlier. 

While running an errand one day, Sayuri is nearly run over by a truck, and she consults her almanac to discover that this was a bad day for travelling in that direction. She realizes that she has only been on the lookout for signs relating to the Chairman and has been neglecting other aspects of her life. Even so, she feels that her life is empty without thoughts of the Chairman.

When the war ends in 1945, the invading army starts pouring into Japan. By the spring of 1946, people have started to realize that they will live on in the face of defeat—fears about American soldiers’ raping and killing are unfounded; in fact, the soldiers are mostly kind. As these men pass by, though, Sayuri realizes that her appearance is no longer striking. To them, she is just another peasant. 

Within a year of the surrender, Mr. Arashino has begun making kimonos again and Sayuri spends her days in the workshop. However, her formerly delicate hands become stained and start peeling as a result of working with dyes. As respite, Mr. Arashino assigns her the task of gathering spiderworts (a type of flower whose juice is used to paint silk, but the smell is odious and Sayuri is glad to go back to boiling dyes.

Sayuri thinks of Gion every night, but, while the geisha districts have reopened, she cannot return until summoned by Mother. As Mother is making quite a good living selling all sorts of wares, she and Auntie are still living on the farm where they have set up shop. Sayuri herself is only a few kilometers away from Gion, but, in the five years that she has been away, she has visited only once and could scarcely recognize it—all she saw was “ghostly memories” (402).

Three years after the war, Sayuri receives a visit from Nobu, who informs her that Mameha returned to Gion over a year ago. He is surprised that Sayuri has not also returned, but she replies that she was waiting to be summoned. Nobu consequently tells her to contact Mother to say that the time has come. He also gives her a piece of rubble from his factory, telling her that he will replace it with a jewel when his company gets back on its feet. Sayuri feels cold upon hearing this, as the jewel will signal that he has become her danna, but she conceals her reaction.

Nobu explains that he wants Sayuri to come back to Gion to entertain a man named Sato. Nobu dislikes him immensely, but he has been appointed Deputy Minister of Finance and the success of Iwamura Electric depends on him.

During her time away from Gion, Sayuri often claimed that she did not know if she would ever return. However, she now admits that she sees this as her destiny. She had suspended her hopes during her years away, but, now that she is poised to return, they are reawakened.

Sayuri writes to Mother on the same night as Nobu’s visit, and Auntie arrives a week later to take her back to Gion. The okiya is in a state of neglect but they manage to get it back in shape, and, after around a week, Sayuri makes her reappearance as a geisha. 

When Sayuri visits the Ichiriki teahouse, she is met by Nobu and Sato. They begin playing a drinking game, and Sato becomes drunk to the point where he vomits and falls over. Still, Nobu manages to bring him back to consciousness.

Nobu tells Sayuri that they will meet again the following week, and he suggests that Mameha join them. Sayuri, however, says that they need another guest—the Chairman, for instance. Sayuri has personal motives for this suggestion, as she has been unable to give up her hopes of seeing the Chairman again; even as her destiny seems to point towards Nobu. As Nobu is unaware of these motives, he agrees to invite the Chairman.

Sayuri visits Mameha later that night and tells her about her evening with Sato and Nobu. She notes that because she asked Nobu to invite the Chairman next time, they will need another geisha to foster a lively atmosphere. Mameha replies that she will stop by, and Sayuri is surprised, as Mameha is hardly someone who could be described as loud and funny. Mameha seems to sense this and she suggests that Pumpkin as an alternative. 

Sayuri has thought about Pumpkin frequently since returning to Gion, but she is conscious of the rift that emerged between them on account of Hatsumomo. When she asks Auntie about Pumpkin, Auntie says that she is living in another okiya and that Mother will not want to see her.

Sayuri visits Pumpkin but finds her strangely aloof and formal. She is also gaunt, and, though Sayuri does not know this at the time, has been working as a prostitute. When Pumpkin asks what Sayuri wants, Sayuri tells her that her company would be appreciated at an upcoming social engagement. Pumpkin is cynical, saying that Sayuri probably has an ulterior motive. Sayuri replies that she would like for them to become friends again, reiterating that she will be pleased to see her at the teahouse.