Geisha, A Life Quotes
"I can identify the exact moment when things began to change."
"Training to become a geiko in Gion Kobu is a closed system."
"It is said that a person who has the eyes to see can penetrate to the core of a person’s character, no matter how old that person might be."
"My father had two favorite sayings... 'Even if he has nothing to eat, he pretends that he has plenty,' meaning that a samurai never lets go of his pride."
"I believed that if I looked at something long enough it would talk to me."
"I didn’t spend many years under my parents’ roof, but during the short time I was with them they taught me lessons that were to serve me in good stead for the rest of my life."
"The problems are going to start all over again and it will be all my fault."
"I started to think. Would it be better if I went to the Iwasaki okiya?"
"As soon as we got home I went straight into the closet."
"Auntie Oima never expected to see Yaeko again and was totally unprepared when she reappeared at the Iwasaki okiya."
"The whole point of the geiko enterprise is perfection, and the dresser’s job is to ensure that perfection."
"Artistic technique must be fully integrated into the cells of our bodies if we are to use it to express what is in our hearts, and this takes many years of practice."
"The only time I ever felt intimidated was when I actually had to perform with her on stage."
"I was completely torn and unable to make a decision. The whole thing was so stressful that I threw up violently in front of everybody in the courtroom."
"I tried to be stoical. I thought that was what my father expected. He wouldn’t want me to disgrace myself with tears."
"I felt such guilt at my betrayal that I couldn’t bear to look at either of them."
"Nothing is left unnoticed, or unremarked, in Gion Kobu."
"The stark contrasts of the day seemed to reflect the intense clarity and dignity of Auntie Oima’s life."
"It is her job to find something likable about everyone."
"The geiko has been hired to amuse the host of the ozashiki and his or her guests. She is there to make people feel good."
"Stab the body and it heals. But injure the heart and the wound lasts a lifetime."
"I want you to look at the scar from this whenever you are tempted to hurt anyone else."
"You have only to see what you see and feel what you feel."
"Beauty is universal. There is an absolute principle in this world that underlies the appearance and disappearance of all phenomena. That is what we call karma."
"You have wounded my pride and I do not suffer disgrace lightly. I will not forget what happened here tonight for as long as I live."
"I’m going to wound this gentleman. I may even kill him. I want you all to realize how deeply humiliated I feel."
"The more popular I became with the customers the more alienated I became from the other geiko."
"I have to be professional. That means I have to attend more ozashiki than anyone else. I must never refuse a reservation."
"It’s hard to imagine living in a world where everyone—your friends, your sisters, even your mother—is your rival."
"I couldn’t imagine a life in which I wasn’t dancing."
"After the mizuage ceremony, the next major rite of passage in the life of a maiko is her erikae ceremony, or 'turning of the collar.'"
"I don’t care who he is, I thought. That is really rude."
"The samurai betrays no weakness, even when starving."
"We are trained from childhood to remember kimono the way one might remember any work of art."
"The specter of my nephew’s assault was laid to rest on that bed."
"I opened myself to him hungrily, feeling no shyness or shame."
"In my mind I believe that her love for him still exists and that it will continue on for a thousand years, or into eternity."
"The only thing I could remember was that feeling of buoyancy. I had no sense of the passage of time."
"I felt powerless, like a carp on the cutting board ready to be sliced into sashimi."
"I knew that the term '100,000' yen ($1,000) was used often when people were discussing financial matters."
"In either event, it isn’t as radiant as yours."
"She got so caught up in our little battle that she went to write down her next retort."
"What a sharp mind! I felt like I had crossed swords with a master."
"I knew how to move around in the world. I knew how to handle money and how to shop. And I was in love."
"I finally reached a decision. I would say nothing. I would break it off simply by no longer being available."
"The more she pleaded, the surer I was that I had done the right thing."
"Now that I was on my own I began to think about achieving real independence."
"We have to get permission for everything, from our choice of repertoire to which accessories and props we are allowed to use."
"So we support the dance but it does not support us. And we are not mountaintop sages who can live by consuming mist."
"I didn’t want to ask any of my customers for additional patronage, though many offered."
"I was at the Nyokoba by 8:20 next morning for my class."
"I touched my forehead to the floor. This is really it, I thought. There is no turning back now. It’s over."
"I couldn’t sit by and watch Gion Kobu fade away into nothingness."
"I’m destined to introduce this artist to the world."
"I had no idea how prophetic those words would turn out to be."
"I was searching for some way to keep the polished aesthetic luster of the Iwasaki name going."