Memoirs of a Geisha (Plot Summary)

Plot Summary

Translator's Note and Chapters 1 – 3

The novel opens with a prefatory chapter written by a fictitious professor of Japanese history named Jakob Haarhuis. He explains that the book is the result of his interviews with a retired geisha named Sayuri.

Chapter 1 opens in the first-person voice of Sayuri, which will be sustained throughout the entire novel. She tells about her childhood in the small fishing village of Yoroido, where she (then called "Chiyo"), her older sister (Satsu), and her parents live a simple life. When Chiyo is nine and her sister is fifteen, their mother becomes deathly ill. On an errand, Chiyo falls and hurts herself. Tanaka Ichiro, the wealthy owner of the Japan Coastal Seafood Company that sustains the town, tends to her. He knows her family's difficult situation.

Tanaka visits Chiyo's father, and she is certain that he plans to adopt her and her sister after their mother dies. But instead, they go on a train to the faraway big city of Kyoto, where they are separated.

Chiyo's new home is a geisha house (called an "okiya"), whose resident geisha is Hatsumomo. She soon learns that Hatsumomo's beauty is equaled by her wickedness. Auntie, Mother, and Granny are the owners of the house. Chiyo also meets another girl, who is her age and who is currently working as a servant while she awaits geisha training. If Chiyo works hard, she may have the same opportunity.

Chapters 4 – 8

Hatsumomo tells Chiyo that Satsu had visited weeks before, and Chiyo is desperate to know where she is. Hatsumomo holds this information over her head, manipulating Chiyo to do her every bidding.

A month into her stay, Chiyo begins lessons at the demanding geisha school. One of Chiyo's duties at home is to wait up for Hatsumomo to return. One evening, Hatsumomo and a friend make Chiyo vandalize an expensive kimono that belongs to Hatsumomo's rival, Mameha. Chiyo is harshly punished and learns that she can never be free until she has repaid all of her expenses, including her purchase, schooling, medical expenses, food, and the replacement of the kimono.

Hatsumomo tells Chiyo where her sister is, and she sneaks out to find her at the brothel where Satsu works. They plan their escape. Chiyo, however, is caught, and Mother decides that she can no longer study to be a geisha; she will have to work as a maid instead. Months later, Chiyo receives word that her mother and father have both died and that her sister, having returned to Yoroido, has run off with the son of Tanaka's assistant.

Chapters 9 – 15

One afternoon, Chiyo sits sadly along one of the streets. A man called "The Chairman" shows compassion toward her, cheering her with kind words and money to buy a shaved ice. She goes to the temple to pray that somehow she can become a geisha so she can meet men like him.

Granny is electrocuted by a space heater and dies. Hatsumomo's rival, Mameha, comes to pay her respects. She notices Chiyo and asks her to meet privately. A few weeks later, Mameha visits Mother, and they strike a deal that Chiyo may return to her studies as a geisha with Mameha as her "older sister" (a very important mentor role), as long as Chiyo is able to repay all of her debts by the time she is twenty. If she does, Mameha will receive twice her fee; otherwise, she will receive only a fraction of her fee.

Hatsumomo takes Pumpkin as her "little sister." Pumpkin makes her debut as a geisha first, and Chiyo is envious. When Chiyo makes her debut and takes the geisha name Sayuri, Hatsumomo humiliates her publicly.

Chapters 16 – 24

Mameha takes Sayuri to a sumo match to meet a longtime client, Iwamura Ken and his friend and business partner, Nobu Toshikazu. To Sayuri's delight, Iwamura is the Chairman she has thought of for so many years. She sits next to Nobu, however, who is terribly scarred from burns received during a bombing.

Mameha devises a plan to get Nobu and another man, Dr. Crab, to bid up the price of Sayuri's mizuage (loss of virginity) to bring the young geisha acclaim. The Baron, her danna (a patron who pays a geisha to be his mistress), invites Sayuri to a party Mameha cannot attend. Mameha warns Sayuri to be careful to protect her virginity. Although Sayuri tries to avoid being alone with the Baron, she fails. The Baron undresses her but does not take any liberties with her.

Back in Gion, Nobu gives Sayuri a ruby, which Mameha instructs her to give to Mother. A few days later, the bidding on Sayuri's mizuage begins between Nobu and Dr. Crab. Toward the end of the bidding, the competition was between Dr. Crab and the Baron, but Dr. Crab won by paying a record price. He and Sayuri perform the ceremonies and the event, and Sayuri is glad when it is done. For the price paid for her mizuage, Mother adopts Sayuri as the okiya's daughter. This means that her debts are clear and her future is secure. Hatsumomo is outraged.

Chapters 25 – 29

Mameha goes to collect on her deal with Mother. Sayuri is also about to have a danna of her own, almost unheard of for a geisha so young. Sayuri learns that Nobu has made the offer to be her danna, and she reveals her disappointment to Mameha. Although Mameha thinks she is being foolish, she shows Mother how General Tottori could benefit the okiya more as Sayuri's danna because of his position in the military. He is in charge of procurement and has access to resources not available to most civilians in this time of war. Tottori becomes Sayuri's danna, and Nobu all but disappears from her life.

When Sayuri gets Hatsumomo's large room, Hatsumomo's efforts to get Sayuri in trouble backfire. One night at a party, Mameha manages to make Hatsumomo so angry that she lashes out and attacks someone. She is removed from the party, and Mother kicks her out of the house. The last Sayuri hears of her, she is working as a prostitute.

With Tottori's help, Sayuri's okiya manages to survive the first years of World War II despite severe rationing. But his arrest changes everything. Things get worse in the Gion district, and finally the news arrives that the district is to close. Geisha scramble to contact men who can help them, as they have heard stories about women working in factories. Sayuri visits Tottori, but he is powerless. Then Sayuri encounters Nobu, who offers her a safe place to stay. She accepts his offer and stays with some of his friends. After the war, Nobu needs her help to get the company back on its feet. He and the Chairman need the support of a man called the Minister, although Nobu cannot stand him. Nobu needs her to help them entertain him while they pursue his help. She agrees and returns to Gion, which has recently reopened.

Chapters 30 – 34

Sayuri, Mameha, and Pumpkin entertain the crude and drunken Minister. The company recovers, and Nobu announces his intentions to become Sayuri's danna. While she is grateful to him, she knows that becoming his mistress means never becoming the Chairman's mistress. Sayuri devises a plan to destroy Nobu's affection for her. She knows how much he hates the Minister, so she asks Pumpkin to bring Nobu to "accidentally" discover her having sexual relations with him. Pumpkin, however, brings the Chairman because she knows Sayuri loves him. Pumpkin resents Sayuri's adoption at the okiya and has been seeking revenge. Sayuri resigns herself to being Nobu's mistress.

Back in Gion, Sayuri waits for Nobu at the tea-house where they will perform the danna ceremony. Instead, the Chairman arrives and confesses his long-standing feelings for her but explains that his friendship with Nobu prevented him from acting on them. He understands Sayuri's plan to rid herself of Nobu, so he told Nobu what happened with the Minister. Nobu could not forgive her, so the Chairman is now free to become her danna.

Chapter 35

Sayuri tells how pleasant life became after the Chairman became her danna: She visited the United States with him on several occasions and expressed her desire to live there and open a tea-house. She subtly revealed that she has a son by the Chairman, so rearing him in a distant country would be best for the Chairman's family-owned business. He agreed, and she took up residence at the Waldorf Towers in New York City. Since the Chairman's death, she has lived a self-sufficient and happy life for the first time.

Media Adaptations

• Audio adaptations of Memoirs of a Geisha have been released by Bantam Books-Audio, 1997 (cassette, abridged), 1998 (cassette, unabridged), and 1999 (CD, abridged).