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Autobiography of a Geisha

by Sayo Masuda , G.G. Rowley (Goodreads Author) (Translator)

3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 · rating details · 2,050 ratings · 119 reviews

The glamorous world of big-city geisha is familiar to many readers, but little has been written of the life of hardship and pain led by the hot-springs-resort geisha. Indentured to geisha houses by families in desperate poverty, deprived of freedom and identity, these young women lived in a world of sex for sale, unadorned by the trappings of wealth and celebrity.

Sayo Masu The glamorous world of big-city geisha is familiar to many readers, but little has been written of the life of hardship and pain led by the hot-springs-resort geisha. Indentured to geisha houses by families in desperate poverty, deprived of freedom and identity, these young women lived in a world of sex for sale, unadorned by the trappings of wealth and celebrity.

Sayo Masuda has written the first full-length autobiography of a former hot-springs-resort geisha. Masuda was sent to work as a nursemaid at the age of six and then was sold to a geisha house at the age of twelve. In keeping with tradition, she first worked as a servant while training in the arts of dance, song, shamisen, and drum. In 1940, aged sixteen, she made her debut as a geisha.

"Autobiography of a Geisha" chronicles the harsh life in the geisha house from which Masuda and her "sisters" worked. They were routinely expected to engage in sex for payment, and Masuda's memoir contains a grim account of a geisha's slow death from untreated venereal disease. Upon completion of their indenture, geisha could be left with no means of making a living. Marriage sometimes meant rescue, but the best that most geisha could hope for was to become a man's mistress.

Masuda also tells of her life after leaving the geisha house, painting a vivid panorama of the grinding poverty of the rural poor in wartime Japan. As she eked out an existence on the margins of Japanese society, earning money in odd jobs and hard labor--even falling in with Korean gangsters--Masuda experienced first hand the anguish and the fortitude of prostitutes, gangster mistresses, black-market traders, and abandoned mothers struggling to survive in postwar Japan.

Happiness was always short-lived for Masuda, but she remained compassionate and did what she could to help others; indeed, in sharing her story, she hoped that others might not suffer as she had. Although barely able to write, her years of training in the arts of entertaining made her an accomplished storyteller, and "Autobiography of a Geisha" is as remarkable for its wit and humor as for its unromanticized candor. It is the superbly told tale of a woman whom fortune never favored yet never defeated. ...more

Paperback , 185 pages

Published June 1st 2005 by Columbia University Press (first published 2003)

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Mar 08, 2009 Arminzerella rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: autobiography-memoir , japan , nonfiction , women , geisha , 1940s , 1930s , borrowed-from-the-library

Sayo Masuda was born out of wedlock, and when her mother would no longer have her because of the associated shame, she was sent to work as a nursemaid. Later, when she was older, her uncle sold her to a geisha house. During this time, no one cared for her or comforted her, and no one taught her anything useful – she spent most of her young life fearing other human beings because her interactions with them had always been painful or unpleasant.

Masuda, or Little Crane, as she came to be called, w Sayo Masuda was born out of wedlock, and when her mother would no longer have her because of the associated shame, she was sent to work as a nursemaid. Later, when she was older, her uncle sold her to a geisha house. During this time, no one cared for her or comforted her, and no one taught her anything useful – she spent most of her young life fearing other human beings because her interactions with them had always been painful or unpleasant.

Masuda, or Little Crane, as she came to be called, was sent to geisha school, and spent several years learning the geisha’s art as well as serving in the geisha house. Geishas are essentially indentured servants to the proprietors of the house until such time as they are able to pay off the fees incurred by their purchase, their training, their room and board, clothing, etc. While Masuda enjoys, at times, the perks of being a geisha (gifts, plenty to eat, some power over the men she entertains), she hates that she remains powerless to change her circumstances. Even when she leaves the geisha house, the stigma of what she has been is still upon her. People look down on her; there are no opportunities for her.

Masuda’s life is a string of unfortunate events – unwanted and unloved by her mother, sold into a sex trade, loses the brother she loves to suicide, declines in health, lost love, and on and on. She attempts to kill herself several times – by drowning, through alcoholism, by neglecting her health – but in the end she finds a new purpose (at the tender age of 30). [It’s interesting to note that Masuda considers her life basically over when she’s in her early 20s. I’m not sure if this is because she was thinking in geisha terms (as beauty fades with youth, most geisha retire and take up other work), or because she really thought that she had nothing more to contribute.:] She finds that she can make children feel important and appreciated and that they come to value her company. She tells them silly stories, and brings them gifts, and, most importantly, spends time with them – all of the things she never got as a child. And this is where her story ends, although, not her life. She’s still alive, according to a translator’s note, and in her late 70s (as of 2003). But she wants no contact with publishers, or people who know anything about her former life as a geisha. She wants to be the person she is now.

Masuda’s autobiography is just as readable and fascinating as Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha . It’s a bit less glamorous, however. Masuda definitely drives home the point that no girl chooses to be a geisha – it is thrust upon her, and how each girl learns to cope with that reality determines what her life will be. Masuda overcomes a lot of obstacles, and it would be interesting to know if she has found love or happiness – things she sought and thought she would never find when she was a young woman. ...more

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May 29, 2011 MAP rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biographies-and-memoirs , non-fiction , other-cultures

There are two kinds of Geisha. There of the Geisha of Gion and Tokyo, who pride themselves as being not only social entertainers but also artists. Sex is almost always implied, never overt. Then there are the Hot Springs Geisha. For these geisha, shamisen and dance are not an art unto themselves, they are a means to an end. Sex is the ultimate goal, and the line between artist and prostitute is so blurred it is almost non-existent.

Sayo Masuda wrote about her experiences as a pre-WWII hot springs There are two kinds of Geisha. There of the Geisha of Gion and Tokyo, who pride themselves as being not only social entertainers but also artists. Sex is almost always implied, never overt. Then there are the Hot Springs Geisha. For these geisha, shamisen and dance are not an art unto themselves, they are a means to an end. Sex is the ultimate goal, and the line between artist and prostitute is so blurred it is almost non-existent.

Sayo Masuda wrote about her experiences as a pre-WWII hot springs geisha, and her life afterwards, in the mid 1950s. Although a best-seller in Japan, it wasn't translated into English until 2003, when the mythology of the geisha entered western thought with Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha . Although Masuda only spent about 5 years as an actual hot springs geisha, she shows how the experience affected her life -- both in terms of the talents she picked up there and the stigma she earned -- for the next several years. In the afterward, the translator even mentions that just the publication of the book ran her out of the town she had been living in at the time.

Masuda writes with a simplicity brought on by the fact that she wasn't taught to read or write until her 20s, and the tense often switches from past to present and back again. But the simplicity also means there's no room for deceit, and the plain truth of her words jump off the page with an easiness not found in more "serious" memoirists.

Although, as I said, she only spends about 5 years, and about 1/4 of the book, as an actual hot springs geisha, this book is still a fascinating account of what it was like to be a woman living on the margins of society in the early 20th century Japan. Most women like her could have never told their story, since most of the them would have been as illiterate as she started out. So this book uniquely preserves an unexamined strata of society in Japan. ...more

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Aug 25, 2013 Molly Brewer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography , history , nonfiction , memoir

Very recently I read Mineko Iwasaki's Geisha: A Life and I had a lot to say about that one. I have a lot less to say about Sayo Masuda's personal account of her life as a country resort geisha in the days before WWII; in short, it's less procedural than Iwasaki's book, but far more touching, and I liked it much more.

Iwasaki's world was one of privileged luxury, consummate arts training, the glamour of Kyoto's Gion Kobu district, and the wealth and prestige that came with being a high-class geiko Very recently I read Mineko Iwasaki's Geisha: A Life and I had a lot to say about that one. I have a lot less to say about Sayo Masuda's personal account of her life as a country resort geisha in the days before WWII; in short, it's less procedural than Iwasaki's book, but far more touching, and I liked it much more.

Iwasaki's world was one of privileged luxury, consummate arts training, the glamour of Kyoto's Gion Kobu district, and the wealth and prestige that came with being a high-class geiko. Masuda's story begins with crushing poverty and borderline starvation, resulting in her sale by her own family into a crowded, low-class okiya in the town of Suwa, where the geisha practice is only thinly separated from sex work by a transparent veneer of training in shamisen and dance. The translator's introduction makes very clear the separation between the city geiko versus the country geisha, and having read both autobiographies the difference is as clear as night and day.

While Iwasaki did elaborate on the extensive training and entertainment work she did in the Kyoto teahouses and theater, Masuda chooses instead to focus on her inner life and the people around her. Her narrative voice is plain and clear, which is perhaps what makes her account so tragic to read. By contrast, Iwasaki's book read like an extended exercise in self-congratulation and her pursuit of fame and prestige is off-putting; in fact, I got the impression that Iwasaki was highly sheltered from the reality of geisha as sex workers outside of wealthy places like Kyoto, and at earlier times in history. Masuda entertains no illusions about her low status, nor does she feel fondly about the geisha tradition in her region. Her feelings extend beyond the sex work industry to the very problem of poverty that led her parents to sell their daughter for enough money to feed themselves for a month. Her conclusion to the book is a firm admonishment to would-be parents not to have a child lightly, because in her experience once a child is born into a world that doesn't want it, it's better for it to die than to grow up neglected and in misery as she did. It's a harsh truth that we still live with in the world, and while Masuda's account is very much of its time and place, the lessons she learned in her life transcend it. The honesty of her voice, and refusal to glamourize what she sees as a harmful practice, is much appreciated. It can be easy for readers who know little of the geisha tradition to decide that it's one of two extremes: a sex-free, elite form of artistic entertainment as shown in Iwasaki's autobiography, or else the glorified form of prostitution Masuda recounts; but indeed, as with any cultural institution in any place, the practices of geisha can't be considered a monolithic entity and one can easily find accounts by real practicing geisha from both sides of this perceptual divide, or even somewhere in between the two. ...more

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Jun 21, 2011 Sally906 rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction , autobiography

Masuda Sayo was a geisha in a rural part of Japan. Her story starts when she was six years old. Rejected by her mother as she was an illegitimate child, Masuda was sent to be a nursemaid at an age where she should still have been in the nursery herself. When she was twelve she was sold to a geisha house. Masuda relates her training years – then describes how she was sold to an elderly man when she was only sixteen. He had a wife and a mistress already.

This is a terrible story to read – in that ...more

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May 05, 2013 Katie Mcsweeney rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: asian , biography , interesting , ww2

I really enjoyed this (very quick) read. I picked it up in Oxfam because it looked so beautiful; a slim volume with a cherry blossom kimono print on the inside and back cover. I think I loved it before I even started reading...

I love Masuda's style; she is clear and her prose is precise. She tells her story without hyperbole or self indulgence. Her life was tough but not without joy; her biography is a testament to the human ability to endure. Her description of life as a geisha is surprising, ...more

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Jan 07, 2012 BoekenTrol rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommends it for: klaradyn

Shelves: biographies-memoirs , bookcrossing , books-i-own , english_language , 2012 , off_mtbr_2012

Despite it is a very sad book, I liked to read it.
Not because I love to read about other people's misery, but because this autobiography gave a better look into the reality of a geisha's training.
It was not easy to read about the difficulties Matsuda faced as a child, being sent away again and again, lacking a loving family and, when she was a grown up, the circumstances of war. Reading about what she had to do to survive, how desperate she has been was not pleasant, but I am glad I did read t ...more

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Aug 26, 2011 Althea Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

Not just a good book, but an important one.
Sayo Masuda's memoir gives an unembellished, unromanticized view of what it was really like to live and work as a geisha. It's a story of extreme poverty and oppression, but her resilience, spirit and humor shine through. It feels to me as though translator Rowley truly captured her authentic voice - the tale seems honest and sincere. The author never flinches from telling the bad along with the good, and the result is a story which truly shows the univ ...more

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Jun 14, 2009 Chelsea rated it 5 of 5 stars

This one's depressing. I read Autobiography of a Geisha at my roommate's insistance after I read Memoirs of a Geisha (Yes, I know it took a long time.) As opposed to Memoirs which is based on a retelling of the life of a geisha, Autobiography is the life of Sayo Masuda in her own words, translated by G. G. Rowley. She originally wrote a short version to enter in a contest because she needed the prize money. When contacted by a publisher, she wrote a longer version to help supplement her meger in ...more

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Oct 30, 2010 Sam Still Reading rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommends it for: people interested in Japanese culture

Recommended to Sam Still Reading by: bought it at Borders

As the title states, this is a true story of a Japanese geisha in the 1940s and 1950s. Beware though: it’s not the beautiful sweetness that you read or saw in Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha. No, life as a geisha was not about that for Masuda-san.

Masuda-san was sold by her parents to act as a nursemaid (as a child- not much bigger than the children she was meant to look after) and then again by an uncle to a geisha house. She had little education and could barely read and write. There she an ...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Monica Akinyi Odhiambo rated it 5 of 5 stars

A true reflection of what Geishas went through.Sayo Masuda had a really challenging life,which sometimes would move me to tears.Being forced at an early age of 12 years,into a life where there's no respect or regard for women with very low wages-paying off debts that probably accrued from your parents.Its just sad how someone could sell you off,like that and you get to work for them for years before you even pay it off.Your work is just to entertain and be used as a vessel by your patron.Going t ...more

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Mar 13, 2011 Ape rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: japan-china-korea , biographies-memoirs

A little gem I picked up second hand. I read this after reading Memoirs of a Geisha, and it's non-fiction to Memoirs' fiction, as well as portraying the life of a geisha in a hot springs resort as opposed to the very rich and priviliged life of a big city geisha, as the one in Memoirs. The writing style, closely translated from the original japanese, has such an honest charm to it. I really enjoyed this book.

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May 27, 2013 Jewel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: autobiographical , asian-lit

Agony, despair, and teeth-grinding misery are great words to describe Sayo Masuda's autobiography. In many ways, this account reminds me of the American autobiography of an abused child, "A Child Called 'It'" that was released in the 90s. Each page is filled with so much suffering and gut wrenching misfortune meagerly accompanied by tiny moments of happiness.

As depressing as this autobiography was, I think it's an essential read for anyone interested in pre WWII/immediate post WWII Japan. The tr ...more

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Nov 06, 2012 Delicious Strawberry rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sayo-masuda , autobiography

If you want to learn more about the life of geisha, this isn't quite the book for you. Much of this memoir doesn't concentrate on the details of geisha life, which I was sad about. After having read the fictional 'Memoirs of a Geisha' and Mineko Iwasaki's autobiography 'Geisha of Gion', I was hoping to see more into the life of a lower-ranked geisha, because the other books fictional or not were about geisha that were more lucky.

Personally I wouldn't have forgiven my mother for what she did if I ...more

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May 13, 2012 Yun Zhen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: asian-stories

It was a refreshingly straight forward read. It provided a realistic look into the lives of geishas and was a good contrast to the glamourous portrayal of geishas in movies and books today. It is hard even to imagine how Masuda managed to surmount every difficulty that life threw at her and she emerged at the end of the account as an woman to be respected. The account of her life itself is inspiring as she sailed through all odds while life didn't treat her well, it still did give her cruel chan ...more

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Jul 24, 2014 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: asia , nonfiction , biography-memoir

Despite the romance that the word "geisha" conjures in the minds of most Americans, the fancy kimonos and painted female entertainers, the reality of the system was often brutal, punishing, demeaning, and even deadly, especially for young girls trapped in the smaller towns and spas, where being a geisha was little better than a life of prostitution or being a mistress. Yet, this existence was often better than the alternative for many girls, who were frequently treated as little more than a prod ...more

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Feb 18, 2009 Heyrebekah Alm rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

A darker, gritter, more honest nonfiction cousin to Memoirs of a Geisha. Sayo Masuda's writing (in excellent translation) is amazingly clear, open and conversational. Her life story struck me as quite unique but also, sadly, probably all too common at the time. At only 160 pages, this is a quick but powerful read.

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Jul 22, 2015 Eric DeBellis added it

To call this book heartbreaking would be to reduce it to a disarming cliche. It's much more compelling than a "woe was me" tearjerker. Masuda's matter-of-fact account of her youth as a girl whose parents sold her to be raised as a product for consumption is at once chilling, humbling, and oddly inspirational. Not that suffering is inspirational. It isn't, but pushing on after repeated blows that would crush most people is. Not that Masuda was a paragon of stoic resolve. She lost her will to live ...more

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Dec 05, 2014 Peter rated it 4 of 5 stars

Quite a story!

This book is recommended reading for anyone interested in what living in wartime and immediate postwar Japan was like. It is also recommended for anyone who has read Arthur Golden’s golden story of that poor Geisha who had such a happy ending by finding her way to becoming a mistress, which I found so disheartening. I found Golden’s story to be unnecessarily uplifting, or at least not bleak, in a similar way that Dickens always seemed to be able to pull the hero out of the muck af ...more

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Jan 07, 2014 okyrhoe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookcrossing , japan

When I read Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha I found there was a certain falseness to the narrative. Of course it was a fictional account (albeit based on interviews with a former geisha), and therefore removed to a certain extent from reality.
I also read Mineko Iwasaki's autobiography Geisha of Gion which gave a more realistic view of the secluded life of the geisha.
Even though they have a busy social life, and may develop close/longstanding relationships with their clients, these young wom ...more

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Jan 04, 2012 Dreamtinheist rated it 3 of 5 stars

Autobiography of a Geisha has none of the glamour usually shown in other books and movies about the life of a geisha. Sayo Masuda endured many hardships from an early age that did not stop when she became a full-fledged geisha. It was interesting to read for awhile; yet, I felt that she was holding something back or discussing certain parts of her life in such a way to emphasize a certain point or moral. After going through and struggling to get out the sex trade (geisha at a hot-springs resort) ...more

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Sep 05, 2014 Bahia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2014-books-read , memoirs

Actually written by a real life Geisha this book was a fascinating look into the hard life of Geisha. Beginning with being sold to a Geisha house, Masuda tells her story in simple, yet compelling language. She was an intelligent woman and well trained in the Geisha arts, but her ability to read and write did not progress beyond hiragana. She tells a story of struggle and sadness, putting "Memoirs of a Geisha" to shame with its honest depiction of the Geisha life.

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Feb 13, 2013 Lyndsey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Masuda presents an account of her life, starting with her early indenture to a geisha house, and she details some of the more unsavory aspects of the job. Unlike the characters of Memoirs of a Geisha, (which I still haven't read and am not in a hurry to read) which presents a more rosy view of the trade, Masuda was a "hot springs" geisha. In addition to all of the typical geisha skills such as dancing, music, art and conversation, she was also a prostitute in a hot springs town. The book is a wr ...more

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Jan 05, 2014 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: owned-books , 2014

The beautiful and heart wrenching life of Sayo Masuda a former resort geisha really hit me hard. I enjoy learning about others lives and those less fortunate allow me to appreciate my life and strives to make me want to help others more. Filled with the moral implications of prostitution and child abandonment Masuda's simple prose is easy to follow and powerful. Those who have been enchanted by the harsh but glamorous life shown in 'Memoirs of a Geisha' need to read this and other real accounts, ...more

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Jul 21, 2015 Lilith Noir rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sex-work

This firsthand account is the perfect antidote to way geisha are often thought of by Americans.
The life Sayo had after she was sold to a geisha house shortly before World War II was certainly not glamorous or luxurious. This story is full of hardship and petty cruelty.

I enjoyed this story especially since Sayo narrates even the most terrible things that happened to her in a matter-of-fact way. Her voice is worlds apart from the typical "misery memoir" since she never seems to invite pity or ad ...more

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Jul 25, 2013 Haley *on the cold winds of night you will find me* rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction , depressing , summer-of-2013-reading

Autobiography of a Geisha is the true life story of Sayo Masuda. She was sold to a geisha house when she was twelve years old. She became a full geisha at the age of sixteen. This book is so... raw and honest. My heart ached for Sayo throughout the book. She had a hard life, yet she had the courage to tell her story to others. The writing is simple yet well done. The book ends when Sayo gets a job as a nanny watching children. It ends with a sense of hope, that Sayo's luck was finally becoming b ...more

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Feb 01, 2015 Deodand rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: asia , biography-memoir , non-fiction , wwii

This book strips away the delicate talk about the artistry of geisha life. She confirms that there was an element of slavery involved. Geishas were sold into indenture and the money went to their families. If their contracts were extended, their families were paid again for their services. The life of a hot springs geisha was rather cheap, and only worth buying for a few years. Disease and suicide were not uncommon.

Masuda makes her painful story readable with a distinctive voice. The translation ...more

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Apr 01, 2011 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The most remarkable thing about this book is the author's voice. Although you have to wonder how much was altered in translation from Japanese to English, it is still very compelling. I think with memoirs you can always tell whether the author is trying to gloss over negative aspects of their life, but Masuda is unapologetic and genuine. This is not the soft, lyrical story of Arthur Golden, but the real thing, expressed by someone who was there. A very rich and evocative memoir.

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May 02, 2010 chucklesthescot rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommends it for: asian literature readers

Shelves: asian , true , femalehardship , harsh-regime , depressing-as-hell

This book smashes the myth of the glamorous life of the geisha,escort to rich men who pay for their company.This is the story of a geisha who was brought up in a geisha house and then used as a prostitute.Her life was brutal,shocking and upsetting,showing the fate of girls who catch diseases from clients and how you are suddenly on the street fending for yourself when the geisha house no longer wants you. It was a disturbing yet compelling read.

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Sep 21, 2015 Babs rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 3-star , autobiography , non-fiction , read-2005

This is such a sad little book. Right from the start you get a sense of the feelings of abandonment Sayo Masuda felt. Her earliest years were spent as a nursemaid to a local family before she was sold into the Geisha profession. She never knew her father, nor most of her step-siblings, at all. She only had minimal contact with her mother - but never felt loved by her - and only became close to one of her step-brothers later in life.

The Geisha life Sayo endured was at the lower end of the scale - ...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Stacey rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book, on an old friend's list, piqued my interest, and I picked it up and could not put it down. It was a little gappy, but, being a memoir and a translated one at that, it's to be expected. This is a fantastic book, and worth reading if you have an interest in geisha life, or life in early 20th century Japan.

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About Sayo Masuda

Masuda was born in 1925, near the town of Shiojiri in Nagano Prefecture. During her later teen years, into her early twenties, she was an onsen geisha at a hot-spring resort in Japan. After this, she became a prostitute, vigorously protesting the passage of anti-prostitution laws. She eventually got a job making soap for a Korean worker, which she held for several months. When the soap business fa ...more

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“When someone who's starved of love is shown something that looks like sincere affection, is it any wonder that she jumps at it and clings to it?” — 28 likes

“What a lovely place this world would be if only people would feel affection for everyone else, and all the ugliness of the human heart were to vanish - our envy of those better off than ourselves and our scorn for those worse off.” — 8 likes

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