Book report on “Memoirs of a Geisha” / CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 4
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■About Older Sister and Younger Sister
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     By the time a girl is finally ready to make her debut as an apprentice, 
she needs to have established a relationship with a more experienced geisha. 
An older sister who does her job properly becomes the most important
figure in a young geisha’s life.
     Taking on the role of older sister often feels about like 
carrying a sack of rice back and forth across the city. 
The reason a busy and successful geisha does to all this trouble for a younger girl 
is because everyone in Gion benefits when an apprentice succeeds. 
The apprentice herself benefits by paying of her debts over time, of course. 
The older sister benefits by receiving a portion of her younger sister’s fees
─as do the mistresses of the various teahouses where the girl entertains.

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■Earn Own Independence
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    “Trying to survive in an okiya with Hatsumomo is like a pig 
trying to survive in a slaughterhouse,” Chiyo said to Mameha.
     “Your only defense is to become successful than Hatsumomo and drive her out.” 
Mameha said. “I live in a spacious apartment with two maids of my own, 
while Hatsumomo─who probably goes to as many parties as I do
─continues to live 
in the Nitta okiya. When I say successful, I mean a geisha who has earned her independence. 
Until a geisha has assembled her own collection of kimono─or until she’s been 
adopted as the daughter of an okiya, which is just about the same thing
─she’ll be in someone else’s power all her life.”
     Mameha went on, “You’ve seen some of my kimono. How do you suppose I came by them? 
My danna is a generous man and bought me most of these robes. 
That’s why I’m more successful than Hatsumomo. 
I have a wealthy danna. She hasn’t had one in years.”

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■Danna
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    Danna─is a very wealthy man. For a very top geisha, not only will her danna 
cover all of her living expenses, such a her registration fee, 
her lesson fees, and her meals; what’s more, he’ll provide her with spending money, 
sponsor dance recitals for her, and buy her gifts of kimono and jewelry. 
And when he spends time with her, he won’t pay her usual hourly fee;
he’ll probably pay more, as a gesture of goodwill.
     Mameha was certainly one of these to geisha, she was probably 
one of the two or three best-known geisha in all of Japan.
The real money in Gion comes from having a dannna, and a geisha without one─such as Hatsumomo
─is like a stray cat on the street without a master to feed it.

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■The Accomplished Dancer
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     Mameha said, “following your debut, you’ll be an apprentice geisha until the age of eighteen. 
After that you’ll need a danna if you’re to pay back your debts.
 A very substantial danna. My job will be to make sure you’re well known in Gion by then, 
but it’s up to you to work hard at becoming an accomplished dancer. 
If you can’t make it at least to the fifth rank by the age of sixteen, 
nothing I can do will help you, and Mrs. Nitta will be delighted to win her bet with me.”
     She went on, “dance has everything to do with it, if you look around at 
the most successful geisha in Gion, every one of them is a dancer.”
     Dance is the most revered of the geisha’s art’s. All apprentice geisha 
must study dance, but, only the promising and attractive ones 
will be encouraged to specialize and go on to be become true dancers,
rather than shamisen players or singers. Unfortunately, the reason Pumpkin, 
with her soft, round face, she hadn’t been selected as a dancer.

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■Pumpkin’s Debut as an Apprentice Geisha <1934, Pumpkin, age 14>
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     During the spring of 1934, Hatsumomo and Mother decided that the time 
had come for Pumpkin to make her debut as an apprentice geisha.
     Then came the day Pumpkin dressed as an apprentice geisha for the first time 
and went with Hatsumomo to the Mizuki Teahouse, for the ceremony to bind them together as sisters. 
     Chiyo was eager to tell Mameha about Pumpkin’s debut. But she’d been much busier 
than usual lately, with the result that they hadn’t set eyes on each other in nearly six months. 
When Chiyo stepped in Mameha’s apartment, she let out a gasp. 
“My goodness, she’s turned into quite a young woman!”
     Mameha asked the maid put Chiyo into a proper kimono. They went to the street. 
For months afterward, Mameha dressed Chiyo in one of her kimono and walked Chiyo around. 
What Mameha was really doing, she was delaying Chiyo’s debut to give everyone time to take notice of Chiyo.

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■Chiyo’s Debut as an Apprentice Geisha <1934, Chiyo, age 14>
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     During the October of 1934, finally the day came when Mameha and Chiyo 
were to perform the ceremony binding they as sisters. 
The ceremony was to take place at the Ichiriki Teahouse, which is 
certainly the best-known teahouse in all of Japan. From that moment on, 
she was no longer known as Chiyo. She was novice geisha “Saruri.”
     The event that evening, the first Sayuri would ever attends, was to be a banquet 
at the Kansai International Hotel. After the banquet Mameha said to Sayuri, 
“Come along with me and have your first taste of an informal party. 
We may as well start showing you around as quickly as we can.”
     In the middle of the party, when Sayuri came back form a toilet with a man 
who was escorted her, Sayuri saw that another geisha had joined the party, 
along with an apprentice. You can imagine how shocked that; for there was the one woman 
Sayuri would have given anything to avoid. It was Hatsumomo, smiling at Sayuri, 
and beside her sat Pumpkin.

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■Hatsumomo’s Dark SchemeIII
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     After that Hatsumomo and Pumpkin were like dogs that wouldn’t stop 
following Mameha and Sayuri. If Sayuri stayed in the place, Hatsumomo embarrasses 
Sayuri in public. Or Sayuri left the place, Hatsumomo gives the malicious gossip. 
For example, “You know what I heard a man say about her eyes the other day? 
He told me they were the color of smashed worms.” She went on 
“She has some sort of disease, and her bosoms look just like an old lady’s
─all droopy and wrinkled─really, it’s dreadful! I saw her in a bathhouse once…”
     Mameha said to Sayuri, “I’m trying to think where we can go, 
but…I can’t think of a single place. I suppose she can find us anywhere in Gion. 
You may as well go back to your okiya, Sayuri, until we come up with a new plan.”
     Hatsumomo was successful in making that she brought Chiyo’s debut to a standstill.

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■Hatsumomo’s Plan
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     One afternoon, Mameha told Sayuri. “Your little friend Pumpkin has 
just won the apprentice’s award. It’s expected she’ll win it a second time as well.” 
The reason why such an award existed, encouraging apprentices to earn as much as possible helps 
shape them into the sort of geisha who will be most appreciated in Gion
     Several times Mameha had predicted that Pumpkin would struggle along for a few years 
and end up the sort of geisha with a few loyal customers─none of them wealthy─and little else. 
     In Gion, Mameha said, a very popular geisha can always make sure
her younger sister earns more than anyone else─if she is willing to risk hurting 
her own reputation. The reason has to do with the way ohana, 
“Flower fees,” are billed. 
     A popular geisha in Gion is welcome at nearly any party, and will drop 
in on many of them for only five minutes. Her customers will be happy to pay the fees, 
even though she’s only saying hello. An apprentice, on the other hand, 
can’t possibly get away with such behavior. Her role is to build relationships. 
Until she becomes a full-fledged geisha at the age of eighteen. 
While her popular older sister might drop in on as many as twenty parties during an evening, 
an apprentice probably attends no more than five. But this isn’t what Hatsumomo was doing. 
She was taking Pumpkin with her everywhere she went. Pumpkin’s earnings may have been high.
But she was certain to pay for it with her reputation, and so was Hatsumomo.
     “Hatsumomo’s behavior only shows us how desperate she is,” Mameha concluded. 
     “She wants Pumpkin to look good so Mrs. Nitta will adopt her. 
If Pumpkin is made the daughter of the okiya, her future is assured, 
and so is Hatsumomo’s. After all, Hatsumomo is Pumpkin’s sister;
Mrs. Nitta certainly wouldn’t throw her out. 
Do you understand what I’m saying? 
If Pumpkin is adopted, you’ll never be free of Hatsumomo… unless it’s you who is thrown out.”