Resumo de Memoirs Of A Geisha

When their mother becomes terminally ill with cancer, 9-year-old Chiyo and her 15-year-old sister are sold by the fish merchant to Gion, Kyoto. Chiyo is pretty and intelligent, she is sold to become a geisha-in-training in an okiya. Her sister is not as fortunate, and is sold to become a prostitute.

In Gion, Chiyo first works as a maid, then starts lessons at the geisha school and learns to play the shamisen, dance, and sing. Hatsumomo is jealous of Chiyo's beauty, and tries to get her in trouble and ruin her career as a geisha.

When Chiyo attempts to run away with her sister but falls from the roof and breaks her leg, she is caught and brought back to her okiya. Because she attempted to run away, she is deemed untrustworthy, and is denied the chance of training become a geisha.

Saddened by the prospect of being a maid for all her life, she cries her heart out in the street. In doing so, she is spotted by a rich Japanese man, the chairman of Iwamura Electric. He comforts her and gives her his handkerchief and a coin. Chiyo dreams of becoming a geisha in order to escort and entertain the chairman.

Two years later, her dream comes true, as the famous geisha Mameha decides to take her as a "younger sister" and look after her training. Mameha teaches Chiyo how to pour tea, carry herself gracefully, and hold interesting conversations with men. Chiyo works hard under Mameha's skillful tutelage and becomes a good apprentice geisha, taking on the name Sayuri. Hatsumomo is extremely jealous and seeks to embarras her whenever she entertains in the tea-houses.

Sayuri meets the chairman and his friend Nobu at a sumo wrestling match. Mameha entertains the chairman and Sayuri has to entertain Nobu. She tries to ignore Nobu's disfigured burnt face and missing arm (souvenirs of fighting in the war) and works her charm on him. Nobu falls for Sayuri and gives her an expensive present.

Due to Mameha's cunning strategy, Sayuri gets the highest bid (¥11000) for her mizuage, or first sexual encounter of a virgin. She is adopted by the owner of the okiya and Hatsumomo goes mad with rage.

After her mizuage, Sayuri becomes a full-fledged geisha, and her clients bid to become her danna or patron. A geisha is mistress to her danna, and has to have sex with him. Sayuri dreams of having the chairman for her danna, but Nobu is determined to be Sayuri's danna. Sayuri cannot bring herself to be the mistress of a disfigured man, and takes another man, a general in the army, to be her danna. Her choice of danna helps her okiya during times of war. However, it is Nobu who saves Sayuri from the fate of working in the factories or becoming a prostitute when the war forces the geisha business in Gion to close down. He finds her a place to live in the house of a kimono merchant.

After the war Nobu asks Sayuri to return to Gion to become a geisha. She does so and entertains his friend, a minister of finance. Nobu tries to become Sayuri's danna again but Sayuri sleeps with the minister in order to make Nobu give up thought of becoming her danna. The chairman explains that he has been in love with Sayuri all along and only gave her up to Nobu because Nobu is his best friend. Sayuri becomes the chairman's mistress, and gives up the life of a geisha.

Memoirs of a geisha is the love story of Sayuri and the chairman. It is also a great insight into the life of a geisha, describing in detail the costumes and hairstyles, as well as the tea-house parties that are the bread and butter of a geisha.

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