Autobiography of a Geisha

Sayo Masuda; Translated by G. G. Rowley

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Paper, 216 pages, 4 photos
ISBN: 978-0-231-12951-0
$22.95 / £15.95

April, 2003
Cloth, 216 pages, 4 photos
ISBN: 978-0-231-12950-3
$75.00 / £52.00

Part 1: A Little Dog, Abandoned and Terrified

Little Crane the nursemaid

The eyes of the oxen glow in the dark

I, too, had a mother

Part 2: The Sunburned Novice

The dream palace

Geisha school

I want to be a geisha, right now

My four "Elder Sisters''

The death of Elder Sister Takemi

The hot iron

The scar

I learn my name

Cruel rules

I devote myself to art

Part 3: Miss Low Gets Wise

Shallow river

A secret place

The new novice

The sleep-with-anyone geisha

How to be cute and sexy

Part 4: Bird in a Cage

My first customer

The geisha temperament

Miscarriage

Thou shalt not love

In the party business

Tip taker

Tsukiko's suicide

Revenge

Part 5: Awakening to Love

Number Two and Number Three

Tricks of the love trade

The witcher bewitched

True love

Attempted suicide

Part 6: Wanderings of a Castaway

No place to call home

A brother's love

Tears of humiliation

War's end

The dumpling-soup diner

Part 7: A Dream for My Little Brother

Beautiful eyes

Peddler

Street stall

Gang moll

Little Foundling

Seven funerary laths

Part 8: The Depths of Despair

My little brother's suicide

Return to Suwa

Reunion

Happy days

Farewell banquet

Love's anguish

Happiness and unhappiness

Wandering between life and death

Part 9: The Road Back to Life

Innocent smile

Piiko the fledgling hawk

Vain dreams

The Prostitution Prevention Act

Cats' paws

About the Author

Sayo Masuda died in 2008.

G. G. Rowley teaches English and Japanese literature at Waseda University in Tokyo. She is the author of Yosano Akiko and The Tale of Genji.

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