Arthur Golden - Memoirs of a Geisha

“Well,” I said, “I think Mother was a little confused about why you’ve taken notice of me… and to tell the truth, so am I.” I hoped Mameha would say something, but she didn’t. “As for Hatsumomo-”

“Don’t even waste your time thinking about what she says. You already know she’d be thrilled to see you fail, just as Mrs. Nitta would.”

“I don’t understand why Mother should want me to fail,” I said, “considering she’ll make more money if I succeed.”

“Except that if you pay back your debts by the age of twenty, she’ll owe me a good deal of money. I made a sort of bet with her yesterday,” Mameha said, while a maid served us tea. “I wouldn’t have made the bet unless I felt certain you would succeed. But if I’m going to be your older sister, you may as well know that I have very strict terms.”

I expected her to tell them to me, but she only glowered and said:

“Really, Chiyo, you must stop blowing on your tea that way. You look like a peasant! Leave it on the table until it’s cool enough to drink.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I wasn’t aware I was doing it.”

“It’s time you were; a geisha must be very careful about the image she presents to the world. Now, as I say, I have very strict terms. To begin with, I expect you to do what I ask without questioning me or doubting me in any way. I know you’ve disobeyed Hatsumomo and Mrs. Nitta from time to time. You may think that’s understandable; but if you ask me, you should have been more obedient in the first place and perhaps none of these unfortunate things would ever have happened to you.”

Mameha was quite right. The world has changed a good deal since; but when I was a child, a girl who disobeyed her elders was soon put in her place.

“Several years ago I took on two new younger sisters,” Mameha continued. “One worked very hard, but the other slacked off. I brought her here to my apartment one day and explained that I wouldn’t tolerate her making a fool of me any longer, but it had no effect. The following month I told her to go and find herself a new older sister.”

“Mameha-san, I promise you, such a thing will never happen with me,” I said. “Thanks to you, I feel like a ship encountering its first taste of the ocean. I would never forgive myself for disappointing you.”

“Yes, well, that’s all fine, but I’m not just talking about how hard you work. You’ll have to be careful not to let Hatsumomo trick you. And for heaven’s sake, don’t do anything to make your debts worse than they are. Don’t break even a teacup!”

I promised her I wouldn’t; but I must confess that when I thought of Hatsumomo tricking me again… well, I wasn’t sure how I could defend myself if she tried.

“There’s one more thing,” Mameha said. “Whatever you and I discuss must be kept private. You are never to tell any of it to Hatsumomo. Even if we’ve only talked about the weather, do you understand? If Hatsumomo asks what I said, you must tell her, ‘Oh, Hatsumomo-san, Mameha-san never says anything of interest! As soon as I’ve heard it, it slips right out of my mind. She’s the dullest person alive!’ ”

I told Mameha I understood.

“Hatsumomo is quite clever,” she went on. “If you give her the slightest hint, you’ll be surprised how much she’ll figure out on her own.”

Suddenly, Mameha leaned toward me and said in an angry voice, “What were you two talking about yesterday when I saw you on the street together?”

“Nothing, ma’am!” I said. And though she went on glaring at me, I was so shocked I couldn’t say anything further.

“What do you mean, nothing? You’d better answer me, you stupid little girl, or I’ll pour ink in your ear tonight while you’re sleeping!”

It took me a moment to understand that Mameha was trying to do an imitation of Hatsumomo. I’m afraid it wasn’t a very good imitation, but now that I understood what she was doing, I said, “Honestly, Hatsumomo-san, Mameha-san is always saying the dullest things! I can never remember a single one of them. They just melt away like snowflakes. Are you quite sure you saw us talking yesterday? Because if we talked at all, I can hardly remember it…”

Mameha went on for a time, doing her poor imitation of Hatsumomo, and at the end said I had done an adequate job. I wasn’t as confident as she was. Being questioned by Mameha, even when she was trying to act like Hatsumomo, wasn’t the same thing as keeping up a facade in front of Hatsumomo herself.

In the two years since Mother had put an end to my lessons, I’d forgotten much of what I’d learned. And I hadn’t learned much to begin with, since my mind had been occupied with other things. This is why, when I went back to the school after Mameha agreed to be my older sister, I honestly felt I was beginning my lessons for the very first time.

I was twelve years old by then, and nearly as tall as Mameha. Having grown older may seem like an advantage, but I can assure you it wasn’t. Most of the girls at the school had begun their studies much younger, in some cases at the traditional age of three years and three days. Those few who’d started as young as this were mostly the daughters of geisha themselves, and had been raised in such a way that dance and tea ceremony formed as much a part of their daily life as swimming in the pond had for me.

I know I’ve described something of what it was like to study shamisen with Teacher Mouse. But a geisha must study a great many arts besides shamisen. And in fact, the “gei” of “geisha” means “arts,” so the word “geisha” really means “artisan” or “artist.” My first lesson in the morning was in a kind of small drum we call tsutsumi . You may wonder why a geisha should bother learning drums, but the answer is very simple. In a banquet or any sort of informal gathering in Gion, geisha usually dance to nothing more than the accompaniment of a shamisen and perhaps a singer. But for stage performances, such as Dances of the Old Capital every spring, six or more shamisen players join together as an ensemble, backed by various types of drums and also a Japanese flute we call fue . So you see, a geisha must try her hand at all of these instruments, even though eventually she’ll be encouraged to specialize in one or two.

As I say, my early-morning lesson was in the little drum we call tsutsumi , which is played in a kneeling position like all the other musical instruments we studied. Tsutsumi is different from the other drums because it’s held on the shoulder and played with the hand, unlike the larger okawa , which rests on the thigh, or the largest drum of all, called taiko , which sits edgewise on a stand and is struck with fat drumsticks. I studied them all at one time or other. A drum may seem like an instrument even a child can play, but actually there are various ways of striking each of them, such as-for the big taiko -bringing the arm across the body and then swinging the drumstick backhand, you might say, which we call uchikomi ; or striking with one arm while bringing the other up at the same moment, which we call sarashi . There are other methods as well, and each produces a different sound, but only after a great deal of practice. On top of this, the orchestra is always in view of the public, so all these movements must be graceful and attractive, as well as being in unison with the other players. Half the work is in making the right sound; the other half is in doing it the proper way.

Following drums, my next lesson of the morning was in Japanese flute, and after that in shamisen. The method in studying any of these instruments was more or less the same. The teacher began by playing something, and then the students tried to play it back. On occasion we sounded like a band of animals at the zoo, but not often, because the teachers were careful to begin simply. For example, in my first lesson on the flute, the teacher played a single note and we tried one at a time to play it back. Even after only one note, the teacher still found plenty to say.