Memoirs of a Geisha

After Sayuri’s failed attempt to run away, Mameha informs her that she should have checked her almanac before she tried to escape. Sayuri explains that geisha are superstitious and rely on their almanacs for even the simplest decisions. Sayuri had never checked one before and is aware that many people are probably skeptical about such things. However, when Mameha checks her almanac in relation to the day that Sayuri planned to run away, Sayuri finds that its advice was relevant.

As a result, Sayuri becomes aware of the connectedness of the universe and she starts to take the almanac seriously. She goes on to consult it throughout the rest of the novel, looking for dates that appear promising for significant change. The reading for the day she first meets Nobu reads, “A balance of good and bad can open the door to destiny” (218), and Sayuri comes to realize that this accurately sums up the course of her life, in the same way that she classes the day that she met Mr. Tanaka as both the best and worst day of her life. Nobu himself, however, voices his irritation that geishas’ reliance on their almanacs for trivial matters yet, when it comes to things that greatly affect their lives, they turn the other cheek. Nobu’s outlook offers a contrast with that of Mameha and other geisha. In his view, people control their own destiny and should not rely upon almanacs or fortune-tellers.

After nearly being killed while walking along the roadside one day, Sayuri consults her almanac and finds that it had warned against travelling in that direction on that date. She had only been looking for signs about the Chairman and had been oblivious to other matters—including a potentially fatal incident. This episode therefore gives further credence to the validity of the almanac, highlighting to Sayuri the peril of focusing on what is not there while neglecting what is. 

Ultimately, it is up to the reader to decide whether the almanac's advice is prescient or whether its accuracy is merely a coincidence. Likewise, readers are left to consider whether it is wise to rely on this advice or whether individuals have the ability to shape the course of their own lives.

Like her mother, Sayuri was born with eyes that are of an unusual shade of pale grey. Fortune-tellers informed her mother that this was due to an excess of water in her personality and, in her mother’s case, the lack of other elements had caused her features to match poorly. Sayuri, however, is described as markedly attractive. 

Sayuri’s eyes draw comment when she is selected for training as a geisha, with Mr. Tanaka and “Mrs. Fidget” remarking on their extraordinary appearance. Mother and Auntie also remark on their loveliness, while the school registrar describes them as being “the color of a mirror” (62). Hatsumomo responds that a mirror does not have any color and that Sayuri’s eyes are like those of a fish, but it is clear that envy and hostility provoke such comments. The registrar makes the astute observation that maybe all that Hatsumomo sees in the mirror is herself, adding that he knows a pretty color when he sees one.

Mameha notes that many people who do not know Sayuri’s name nevertheless ask about “the girl with the lovely gray eyes” (178). She consequently makes Sayuri aware of the expressiveness of her eyes, teaching her to use them in an enticing manner. Mameha thinks that the artist Uchida Kosaburo will similarly be struck by them. However, when they first meet, he takes little notice of Sayuri until he sees her standing in the sunset. He pays much greater attention to her eyes when she poses for him later on, yet he is frustrated that he cannot get the unique color just right. Still, when Sayuri sees the poster for the Dances of the Old Capital, she is startled to see an apprentice geisha with blue-gray eyes.

Sayuri’s eyes are not only attractive but relevant to the novel’s plot. When the Chairman first meets Sayuri, he notices her eyes and instructs Mameha to look after this girl should she ever find her in Gion. Sayuri’s unique feature helps Mameha identify the girl in question, and, when the Chairman finally reveals his role in her training to Sayuri, he shows her a scroll featuring the image of a young woman with pale blue-gray eyes. Sayuri’s eyes are her key feature, and they are the catalyst for her tutelage by Mameha and the Chairman’s ongoing interest in her. 

When Sayuri spies on Mr. Tanaka, she marvels at the elegant clothing of the woman who is entertaining him, though, back then, Sayuri has no concept of what a “geisha” is. Her first sight of Hatsumomo, meanwhile, has an even greater impact due to the combination of Hatsumomo’s lavish kimono, striking makeup, and ornate hair decorations. 

Once she has moved into the okiya in Gion, Sayuri learns that a lot of work goes into achieving this effect and that a dresser is required to provide assistance. She subsequently familiarizes herself with the elaborate routine that a geisha must carry out, as well as the significance of its various elements; she notes, for instance, that geisha wear the collars of their kimono low at the back because Japanese men are drawn to a woman’s neck and throat. When she herself becomes an apprentice, she discovers that her new outfit and hairstyle are cumbersome, which is why she has to practice walking and learning to sleep without flattening her hair. 

Sayuri also emphasizes the psychological aspect of this process by pointing out that a woman does not wake up as a geisha—she only starts to feel like one when she sits before the mirror to apply her makeup.  Sayuri experiences this firsthand on the day of the ceremony in which she becomes Mameha’s younger sister. As she looks in the mirror, she sees herself wearing the “magnificent makeup of a geisha” (187) and is overcome to realize that she is no longer Chiyo, but the novice geisha Sayuri.

Sayuri later learns that the outfits worn by successful geisha are extremely expensive: for instance, one of Hatsumomo’s outfits probably costs as much as a shopkeeper might earn in a year. The kimono is thus a status symbol and a source of envy and competition among geisha, as evidenced when Hatsumomo forces Sayuri to deface an outfit from Mameha’s collection. However, unlike Hatsumomo, Mameha has been able to procure her own kimono collection by taking on a danna who covers her expenses. As Mameha tells Sayuri, men get bored seeing the same outfit every night, so a range of kimonos creates variety. Mameha allows Sayuri to wear one of her old robes, which is well-known in Gion and therefore helps Sayuri attract attention.

Another significant point about the kimono is that its appearance differs depending on a woman’s role in society. For instance, a geisha wears a kimono in a different manner than a housewife would, as she dresses in it frequently and uses it for the purposes of entertaining and seduction. Additionally, Sayuri learns that prostitutes wear similar kimono and ornaments to geisha but that the obi (sash) is tied differently. 

Young girls dress more ornately than older women, whose outfits are tidier and do not require much fabric, and this is especially the case for apprentice geisha. As Sayuri recalls, a scientist from Kyoto University was once talking about primates and commented that “the apprentice geisha of Gion is perhaps the most brilliantly colored primate of all!” (187). The transition from apprentice to full geisha is known as “turning the collar,” as it involves exchanging a red collar for a white one. Geisha also adopt a simpler appearance as they get older, in contrast to the doll-like image of their younger counterparts. For instance, Sayuri notes that she is no longer expected to wear makeup on a regular basis as she nears the age of thirty.

The kimono, along with makeup and accessories, thus serves a variety of functions and can be used for aesthetic effect while also denoting social status. 

Ekubo is a type of sweet rice-cake that apprentice geisha give to men to signal that they are available for mizuage, the formal offering of their virginity. The term itself is the Japanese word for dimple, as the cakes include a dimple at the top with a tiny red circle in the center—a feature that some people find suggestive, though Sayuri imagines it is caused by a woman who has slept on a pillow, leaving it smeared with lipstick. 

An apprentice will typically offer boxes of ekubo to at least a dozen men, but Sayuri offers them to only two: Nobu and the Doctor. Nobu accepts this offering graciously but the Doctor is more reluctant, as he has been influenced by Hatsumomo’s lies about Sayuri. Still, he eventually accepts the offering as a result of Mameha’s persuasion. 

Sayuri is ambivalent about this process because she would really like to give the ekubo to the Chairman. However, she feels that the whole process is so distasteful that it is perhaps better for the Chairman to be left out.

Apprentice geisha learn to play various instruments, including a drum (known as tsutsumi), the Japanese flute, and the shamisen, which is sometimes known as a Japanese guitar but differs from a guitar in numerous respects. These skills are useful for stage performances such as Dances of the Old Capital, as well as other events, and geisha try out all these instruments before specializing in one or two. 

The shamisen is the instrument that plays the most significant role in the novel. Pumpkin struggles when she first attempts to play it during class, but she and Sayuri practice every day outside of school hours and develop a bond—that is, until Hatsumomo puts a stop to these meetings, causing a rift that never heals. In addition, when Sayuri is instructed to take Hatsumomo’s own shamisen to the Mizuki Teahouse—because Hatsumomo lost a bet and has to play a song as forfeit—Sayuri uses this as an opportunity to try to escape. However, while she returns the shamisen successfully, her escape attempt proves futile.