Liza Dalby does a good job of exploring the state of the geisha in early 1970s Japan, and giving enough historical context to both show the transformation the role was going through at that time and that, to a certain extent, it has always been in a state of transformation. The only thing that bothered me about the book was that at times it felt like she was taking pains to tell us what an awesome geisha she had been. A very worthwhile read.

Was not captivating enough.

Liza Dalby apparently became a geisha for a few months in about 1976, for her anthropology grad work. As an anthropological study, it is well constructed, and probably reworked for the general public--moving the statistical parts to a separate section etc. Her descriptions of life in the geisha house are vivid and well written, though I would have enjoyed a bit more background information. What drew her to Japanese language and culture in the first place? When did she first begin to study the language? What influenced her decision to study geisha life in particular? We are given tantalising glimpses of her past (acquiring the name Kikuko from an unnamed "host family"--when? Where? Highschool exchange programme, or something else?) but not much information about how she was drawn into a culture which at the time was so very different from the US.

In the text, Dalby mentions dreaming of being the Margaret Mead of geisha. I wonder, did her subjects tell her as many porkies as the Samoans did Ms Mead? Also I was amused at how scathing she was about young Japanese girls "playing at being maiko (apprentice geisha) for a few months" and then dropping out to get married or whatever. She herself was only acting as a geisha for less than a year. And then she went away and wrote her thesis. The irony of this vis a vis her comments seems to have been lost on her. But then one is always the exception in one's own life...

She also mentions appearing on an American TV show as one of three people dressed as geishas, and how her experience of wearing kimono and "walking geisha" made it obvious who was the "real" one (there's that irony again!). It gave me a blast from the past...at that time I was about 13 and have a vague memory of seeing the programme.

I picked this book up in a second hand shop; unaware at the time of the book or its author I was expecting a novel. I may check out some more of her work if available to me.

This book was written by the only non-Japanese person who ever became a Geisha, and the way she writes about her experiences is sensative, and very informational for a Western audience who may not explain all of the terms. For someone like me who has an interest in Eastern culture, I'd recommend this every time.

Fascinating and insightful look into the mysterious world of the Geisha in Kyoto.

It is amazing how close Dalby got to this world as an outsider.

Since I am interested in anything that comes from the orient, I could not walk past this book. I bought it several years ago and read it with great pleasure.
I loved being given a look behind the scenes, learn how geisha's are trained, how hard they work and also what geisha's are and what they do. It really was an interesting read.

Does qualify for re-read, but not in the near future :-)

A well researched book into the floating world of the willow. The reader must remember that this was researched in the 70s, so for an updated look at the geisha at the turn of the century refer to Lesley Downer's book, Women of the Pleasure Quarters. It does repeat some of what Dalby writes, though.

[Note: At the time I wrote this review, I had not yet read Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha. And I think I may be the only person in America who still hasn't.]

Of course, it's now a full week after A&E aired _The Secret Life of Geisha_, a show nominally based on Dalby's 1983 account of her time in Kyoto as the only non-Japanese ever to train and serve as a geisha. But I kept reading anyway. The show's material came, for the most part, from the first four chapters of the book, which cover a good deal of history, and ignored the rest, which is more of a personal accounting of Dalby's time in Kyoto and her research in Tokyo and some of the smaller towns.

Dalby's account is straightforward and precise, though I don't want to give the impression there's nothing here that would give the reader a sense of personal experience; far from it. Dalby, an anthropologist by nature as well as trade, has a knack for being able to translate emotion into recognizable speech and get it all down on paper in an easy-to-understand form.

The end result is compulsively readable, half-journal and half-explication, of the widely misunderstood world of geisha and the cultural context to which it belongs-- as important to an understanding of what geisha are as a study of the women themselves. Dalby adresses the paradox that the women considered the most servile in Japan are also those with the most freedom, and by the time the book is finished it's no longer a paradox, really. Dalby takes the reader through the world of geisha, its history, its context, and most importantly the outside world's misconception of it. All is explained in such a way as to be easily absorbed, Not in the tradition of "classic" anthropological works at all. Which is a good thing.

Absorbing, a quick read, new stuff to be learned, how can you go wrong?

“Geisha” first published in 1983 was an extremely influential work in the study of Japanese culture and the intricacies of the lives of geiko (geisha). In it, Dalby examines the history and many aspects of geisha life such as dress, ritual practice, initiation, shamisen playing and zashiki (geisha parties). The style of the book is written in a quite a personal manner, and reads somewhat like a novel. Some could argue that this diminishes the scholarly value, but it is easy to see how well it serves to draw the reader into the world of geisha. It seems more honest to take away any pretence that there is no bias on the part of the author; the reader can clearly perceive the anecdotal nature of the study.

The very word geisha, means ‘artist.’ This is the aspect that Dalby brings to the forefront in her book. Not only are geisha accomplished in arts such as song and dance, but they must also be proficient in the art of conversation and knowledge. Dalby portrays the geisha as being somehow separate to ‘normal’ Japanese society, as in ‘flower and willow world,’ women rule. In fact it is one of the few instances in Japan in which a girl child is favoured over having a son.
One geisha remarked “My choice would be either to be born a man or be born a geisha”. Dalby shows that in Japan, wives have little power or economic base of their own. Neither can wives have lovers. On the other hand geisha can be with who they please and are not usually tied down by family commitments or children. They can earn their own money, especially if they end up owning a bar or teahouse. A wife must be demure and stay at home whereas a geisha is worldly, and has the opportunity to be involved in many social situations with some of the most important people in Japan. Geisha are free in many ways that the average Japanese woman is not.

But Dalby plays down the fact that despite all this freedom, even geisha’s lives tend to revolve around men. Even geiko and mama-sans (the owners of tea houses) all are in a business specifically tailored to entertaining men. One cannot even marry and be a geisha. Even if a geisha acquires a ‘patron’ who pays for her expenses in exchange for more exclusive time with her (which can have a sexual element to it) she will never have all of his attention because of his wife There is still much to be desired in the life of a geisha, which Dalby only barley acknowledges. They have a peculiar place in Japan as they are regarded as one of the cultural treasures, and yet are simultaneously seen as something slightly too risqué and controversial.

Dalby hints at the idea of ‘working women’ in Japan, but otherwise does not acknowledge other ways for women to gain power in Japan. She presents a limiting dichotomy between wives and women of the ‘flower and willow world’. She barely touches on the way in which the powerful patriarchy of Japan limits all women, even those with the most freedom: geisha.

I actually finished this novel in November, and this is a fascinating look at what it means to be a Geisha in modern day Japan in the 1980s.
Liza had an exceptionally rare insight into what it meant to be a Geisha, as not only was she a fluent Japanese speaker - she also started her training. Being the only Westerner to ever become a Geisha at the point of her writing this book.
This book was actually a cut down version and altered version of her doctoral study in Anthropology. Touching on not only Kyoto Geisha, but also Tokyo and other areas across Japan.
Having read Memoirs of a Geisha too many times to count, I have been fascinated by this very different and very unique part of Japanese culture, and found Liza's book to be of valuable insight into Geisha.
Further, as Liza points out in her introduction, this was originally an anthropological study, and as such included a number of notes about how she gathered her information (from questionnaires, interviews, observations and as to what came as a surprise early on in her work, becoming a Geisha herself). She includes, where appropriate any biases and cultural context into Geisha and the wider Japanese culture.
However, this book loses a star - for the sole reason, that the work is now quite dated being originally written 30 years ago, and some of the attitudes pertaining to the role of women and the comparisons made to American women as dated.
I would love to read an updated version of this book - or similar, as Geisha are no longer as ubiquitous in Japanese society, and I would be interested in finding out what happened to them.

This book is primarily an anthropological study of Japanese geisha, particularly the geisha of Kyoto. But it is also in part the story of Liza Crihfield, graduate student, transforming into Ichigiku of Pontocho, the first American Geisha. The whole thing – the background information as well as the personal story – is extremely interesting if you have ever wondered in the least about the geisha.

Among the background stuff – Japanese customs and culture, history of the geisha, their differences from the women of pleasure or licensed prostitutes and from wives, their ceremonies and the like – there is also the story if Ichigiku and her ok¬asans and her elder sister. This part of the story is rendered particularly poignant because her geisha sister was killed in a fire about a year after Liza left Japan.

Interessantissimo e coinvolgente! Per chi ha visto e letto "Memorie di una Geisha", è come rituffarsi a capofitto nei vicoli di Kyoto, nelle case di mezzo secolo fa che ancora oggi resistono allo scorrere del tempo e sembrano quasi incastonate in un'altra dimensione! Lo consiglio davvero a tutti coloro che amano il Giappone profondamente come la sottoscritta e per tutti quelli che sono affascinati dall'universo femminile del Sol Levante!