Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha is probably one of the best “one hit wonders” of modern literature. The story of its creation is almost as fascinating as the story itself.

After studying Japanese culture and language in Grad school, Arthur was visiting Tokyo when he met the son of a well-off Geisha. He became instantly interested in the world of Geisha and decided he would write a work of fiction based on the viewpoint of the child of a famous Geisha. Before long though, he soon realized that the story lay in the life of the Geisha herself.

Arthur was introduced to a Geisha in Kyoto and through his observances of Geisha rituals and traditions, his story was born.

Memoirs of a Geisha is a fictional story of a retired Geisha looking back on her journey to become a successful Geisha in the 1930’s and 40’s as she tells it to a ghost writer who is writing her memoir.

Her story begins when she is a small child in a poor fishing village in rural Japan. Her mother is terminally ill and her father is old and unable to care for her and her older sister so he sells his daughters into the world of the Geisha in order to give them a chance at a better life. Chiyo, the young girl, is given the chance to become a Geisha in Kyoto in the district of Gion. But her antics and the jealousy of the only actual Geisha in the house leads to her downfall and after racking up quite a debt to the mother of the house, she is enslaved as a maid to work off her debt.

At the point to which all hope is lost, little Chiyo meets a business man in the company of Geisha. When Chiyo is old enough, the Chairman bribes another successful Geisha to mentor Chiyo in the ways of a Geisha and she debuts with the name Sayuri. Soon Sayuri is entertaining men in tea houses, accompanying friends to Sumo Wrestling matches and being invited to cherry blossom parties in which she becomes to the spectacle in her traditional dress and mannerism.

When Japan enters WWII, the world of the Geisha is turned up-side-down and Sayuri is sent into the countryside to be protected from bombings and being sent to factories to work. When she returns to Kyoto, the streets have changed and “Geisha” is loosely used for any common prostitute who walks around in a Kimono.

Sayuri uses her charm and art as a Geisha one last time to win the affection of an American General who is being wooed by the Chairman in helping him rebuild his factories. As the events unfold in her last public act of Geisha-hood, Sayuri must choose between true love and dear friendship and give the performance of her life.

This story has everything. The history of Japan, the ancient traditions of the world-renowned Geisha and the intrigue and drama that come with love, jealousy and a war-torn country. It’s such a good story, I make a point to read it every year and have even purchased the movie that was released in 2005.

Have you ever read this book? What was your impression of Sayuri’s world?