Madame Sadayakko

Lesley Downer's fascination with the Japanese world of geisha is further documented in Madame Sadayakko - The Geisha who seduced the West as she searched to understand the life of Sadayakko, known in her day as THE geisha. Just as Mineko Iwasaki was supposedly the basis for Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha, Sadayakko was said to be the real-life model for Madame Butterfly.

Sadayakko and Mineko - two very well known geishas in their time but two very different accounts. Lesley Downer found accounts of Sadayakko's struggle with her position in society despite being a very successful geisha. It was because she was a geisha that she was looked down upon. It didn't help when she married an actor, as actors in those days in Japan were known as 'riverbed beggars'. Despite being shunned by Japanese society, she was well received in Europe and America where she thrived on the independence and freedom she enjoyed there. Back in Japan, she had to step back behind her husband and success always had to be attributed to him first.

Contrast this to three years after she died, when Mineko was born... In her autobiography Geisha of Gion, Mineko's world sounded beautiful, elegant and graceful. The said mizuage which she was offended by in Memoirs of a Geisha, stating that it didn't happen in Gion, appeared to be the custom in Madame Sadayakko's accounts.

Both were ultimate successes in their profession and met and influenced major figureheads, so similar yet so very different too. Sadayakko's tale was one of sadness; you couldn't help but feel as if there were so many times when her life wasn't hers - important decisions were made about her life but she didn't have a say in it. Mineko's story had a happy-ever-after feel. Yes, both worked hard, went through a lot of pain for their professions but where Sadayakko was made to feel unwanted in society for being a geisha/actress, Mineko made it sound like it was a privileged and elite profession. And indeed it must be. Perhaps there is a difference between geishas in Tokyo (Sadayakko) and Kyoto (Mineko). Or perhaps it has to do with the timing?

I continue to be mesmerised by these women - both tough fighters in their own way. Independent when they were supposed to be subservient, opinionated when they should be pretty and demure to-be-seen-but-not-heard, living passionately in a society and time where open emotions were frowned upon.