Quotes from Mineko Iwasaki

Her death was a defining moment in my life. It felt like the brightest light in Gion Kobu had gone dark. Sadly, she was the last master of the musical tradition in which she had been trained. The form died with her.

I was moved by her emotion, but she was unable to say the one thing I longed to hear. She couldn't say, "Whatever you do, Mineko, please don't stop dancing." The system wouldn't allow it. When I stopped being a geiko I would have to stop dancing.

I have no idea. It's not my problem. But I'm sure you'll do just fine. Anyway, you aren't what I'm looking for. I'm looking for a grand passion, someone who will sweep me off my feet and teach me all about love. And then I'm going to become a really great dancer.

The only adult male I had ever known was my father. All my ideas about love and responsibility came from him.

Well, these fifteen years may have seemed short to you but they have been an eternity for me.

As I expected, my retirement sent shock waves through the system. But not in the way I intended. In the three months after I retired, seventy other geiko also quit the business. I appreciated the gesture, though it seemed a little late to be showing solidarity with me at that point. And the powers that be didn't change a thing.

I didn't feel any guilt over my decision to close the okiya. I had given the Gion Kobu everything I had and it was no longer giving me what I needed. I had no regrets.

That one painting entirely changed my future.

My own days are unrestrained and unfettered. I am no longer ruled by the dictates of the Inoue School. I dance when I want. I dance how I want. And I dance where I want.

I am afraid that the traditional culture of Gion Kobu and the other karyukai will cease to exist in the near future. The thought that little will remain of the glorious tradition beyond its external forms fills me with sorrow.

I blurted out my whole laundry list of requirements. I clearly had in mind someone as sophisticated as my father or Dr. Tanigawa.

A geiko's kimono is a work of art and I would never wear a kimono that wasn't absolutely perfect. All the kimono worn by maiko and geiko are one of a kind. Many of them are given names, like paintings, and are treasured as such. This is why I have such a vivid memory of everything I ever wore.

And no matter how accomplished one may be, the hard work is to no avail if one doesn't have the proper clothes in which to appear in public.

I was becoming curious about these things and one day I asked Mama Masako "What does 100,000 yen look like?" She pulled a billfold out of her obi and showed me ten 10,000-yen notes (about the same as ten $100 bills). "It sure doesn't look like much," I said. "I guess I should be working harder.

Sometimes I had to be nice to people whom I found physically repulsive. This was the hardest because repulsion is a difficult reaction to conceal. But the customers had paid for my company. The least I could do was treat every one of them graciously.

Non è mai giusto colpire altre persone o causare loro del dolore.

Ricordo ancora dei momenti magnifici, in cui la famiglia era al completo...non immaginavo neppure lontanamente che da lì a breve quegli idilliaci intermezzi sarebbero finiti. Eppure presto accadde.

These days, unfortunately, people of means may no longer have the time and interest to pursue such hobbies.

The fee for a banquet at an ochaya is not inexpensive. An ozashiki costs about $500 an hour. This includes the use of the room and the services of the ochaya staff. It does not include the food and drink that is ordered, nor the fees for the services of the geiko. A two-hour party with a full dinner for a few guests and three or four geiko in attendance can easily cost $2,000.

This transparent system of accounting means that we know which geiko did the most business on any given day. It is always clear who is Number One.

I remember thinking that this transformation, which I witnessed thousands of times, was an eloquent statement of the style's ability to evoke and express beauty.

It is said that a person who has the eyes to see can penetrate to the core of a person's character, no matter how old that person might be.

This is why the whole notion of "geisha houses" being dens of ill repute is so ridiculous. Men are barely allowed inside these bastions of feminine society, let alone permitted to frolic with the inhabitants after they arrive.

Basically, I was booked solid for the entire five years that I was a maiko.