Memories of a Geisha

12/5/2007

English 1510 AM

MoaG Impromptu

Poverty to Prosperity

In the book Memories of a Geisha, Chiyo-chan is the main character although her name is later changed to Sayuri. She comes from a town called Yoroido which is poverty stricken and then moves to a city known as Kyoto, which are both located in Japan, and finally to New York City. Throughout Sayuri’s life she is mentored indirectly and directly by several people who she encounters there names are Mameha, Hatsumomo, Nobu Toshikazu, and Iwamura Ken known as the Chairman.

Sayuri was a fisherman’s daughter from a Yoroido which was located off the Sea of Japan. She lived in what she called a “tipsy house” which was located next to a cliff overlooking the ocean. Yoroido was composed of poverty stricken people and the main source of revenue was from the Coastal Seafood Company. Kyoto was a city that compares to New York. Sayuri would spend a portion of her life living in Gion district which was located in Kyoto. “Even to this day, the sight of streets and buildings from a train often makes me remember the terrible emptiness and fear I felt on that curious day when I first left my home”(Golden 35). She was ripped away from her home in Yoroido by Mr. Bekku and brought to Kyoto which was a city with prosperity.

Hatsumomo was an empress of the okiya because she earned the income by which everyone lived by. Okiya was a home for which geisha live. Sayuri doesn’t value Hatsumomo as a direct mentored but as a indirect mentor. This was because Hatsumomo was nothing more then a obstacle that Sayuri had to overcome. Hatsumomo was never nice to Sayuri because she had potential to become a better geisha the she ever could be.. Hatsumomo was frightened by this because she thought it would ruin her career. “She’s nothing special. A bit stupid, and as awkward as a cripple. But I just thought you’d find it interesting that she’s going to be a geisha, and you never will. ”(Golden 109) Sayuri became a geisha and things started going down hill for Hatsumomo. Which Eventually Hatsumomo got what she deserved. Hatsumomo ended her career as a geisha by beating up Shojiro.

Mameha was a very successful geisha who takes Sayuri as her younger sister and trains her to become a geisha. Sayuri became Mameha’s younger sister threw a ceremony at the Ichiriki Teahouse which was one of the best known teahouse in all of Japan Mameha was the most helpful of all the mentors because she helped Sayuri with her schooling and mizuage. Mizuage is depicted as a deflowering ceremony, in which the geisha had relations with