A look into the less glamorized world of the ryokan geisha, who life is a far cry from the geiko of Kyoto. It is an honest look into what a woman had to do to survive.

Really fascinating, moving, shocking. The levels of poverty described in this book are almost beyond my comprehension. Very impressed with her writing and wanting to share her story in 1957 as it must have been truly shocking for people at the time. That shows true strength of character. I just can’t get over reading about all the things she endured and survived! Shame she wouldn’t ever get to meet the translator but very happy she has found peace. It’s unbelievable that she been through all that by time she was 32!

"In every human heart is a place where you put your broken dreams. When something doesn't work out, no matter what it may be, you just have to give it up and stuff it in with your broken dreams. And make sure you keep the lid on tight."

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 - nothing like the glamourised versions made popular in novels of recent years. She was little more that a glorified prostitute, whose life was bought and sold by those around her.

However, through it all, it becomes clear what a steely determination this young woman possessed. No matter what was thrown at her she managed to cope. Despite being illiterate and uneducated, she managed to convince patrons she was more knowledgeable than she actually was, by listening to others' conversations. When food was scarce, she became an entrepreneur in order to survive. And even at her very lowest points, she was able to come through them with a new strength.

This book was written entirely by Masuda, and as such, lacks a little "polish". In places I found it a little difficult to follow conversations, but on the whole this is an excellent book. The situations and imagery are all very vivid, being written first-hand, and you can't help but admire this woman for everything she came through.

I think the main problem with this book is that it is a translation, so there's always going to be something missing. The story itself was interesting, but the writing style felt kind of flat.

This is a very painful book to read. It's not really made less painful by the knowledge that Masuda Sayo suffered for her entire life. There's a scene towards the beginning of Masuda's arrival at the okiya, when she was maybe around 12 years old, where Masuda witnesses another geisha refuse medical treatment for peritonitis in hopes of hastening her death as an end to her suffering. This incident greatly impacted Masuda. On 8 June 2008 Masuda found out she had liver cancer; only a few weeks later, on 26 June, she died.

Here's something that made me genuinely tear up:

Masuda wrote her autobiography between the years of 1956 and 1957. She had never learned to read more than hiragana, and wrote her entire book in it. Her editors worked carefully to convert her work into the standard kanji while preserving the feeling of her original writing.

I picked up this one after I finished Geisha, A Life by Mikeko Iwasaki. They are both so different, since they tell the lives of two very different types of geisha/women, but I think that I can say that I enjoyed this one more. It seemed very pure and straight forward, which I liked very much. There were some parts to it that made you really feel what she was trying to convey, which I did not feel as strongly in Geisha, A Life.
Its definitely an important book and one that will make you think about the simple things in your life that can easily be taken for granted.

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.