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1578
2021-04-08T08:02:01Z
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Downer, Lesley
Women of the pleasure quarters Lesley Downer. -[the secret history of the geisha]
1st ed.
New York :Broadway Books,
xiv, 288 p., 16 p. of plates :ill. (some col.) ;25 cm.
Inspired by Arthur Goldens massively popular Memoirs of a Geisha to meet the real geisha in the last stronghold of geisha training in Japan, Downer skillfully intertwines her profiles of Kyoto personalities and teahouse customs with a fluidly written geisha history thats unabashedly aimed at a Western audience. Author of On the Narrow Road and The Brothers: The Hidden World of Japans Richest Family, Downer was no stranger to the country. However, she found the entrance to the geisha world heavily guarded. She writes: I was always an outsider, I could never step through the looking glass. But small successes (finding the right cakes to present to the mama, a very powerful geisha) and patience eventually won Downer a place at events that are utterly closed to outsiders. These included an invitation to a young girls misedashi (store opening), the rite of passage from trainee to geisha. We also learn, for example, of the distinction that has developed between a prostitute and a geisha (which translates as arts person), who undergoes intense and lengthy apprenticeships in dance and music. Written in dynamic, highly readable prose, the book is supported by exhaustive research and a lengthy bibliography. Readers who were as smitten with Goldens geisha as Downer was will find this good companion reading. Photos.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [277]-280) and index.
Geishas
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