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Mineko Iwasaki (岩崎 峰子/岩崎 究香, Iwasaki Mineko, born Masako Tanaka (田中 政子), 2 November 1949) is a Japanese businesswoman, author and former geisha. Iwasaki was the most famous geisha in Japan until her sudden retirement at the age of 29.
Mineko Iwasaki, former high-ranking Gion geisha, detailed her experience of mizuage in her autobiography, Geisha, a Life.Describing her experience of graduation to geishahood with the term mizuage, Iwasaki described her experience as a round of formal visits to announce her graduation, including the presentation of gifts to related geisha houses and important patrons, and a cycle through five ...
Memoirs of a Geisha is a historical fiction novel by American author Arthur Golden, published in 1997.The novel, told in first person perspective, tells the story of Nitta Sayuri and the many trials she faces on the path to becoming and working as a geisha in Kyoto, Japan, before, during and after World War II.
One issue that Iwasaki never mentioned in public, but became quite clear after she published her own biography, Geisha of Gion, was how closely Memoirs of a Geisha mirrored her own life. Indeed, many of the main characters all corresponded to people she knew or was close to.
During research for the novel, Golden conducted interviews with a number of geisha, including famous ex-geisha Mineko Iwasaki. After the Japanese edition of the novel was published, Golden was sued by Iwasaki for breach of contract and defamation of character, with Iwasaki alleging that Golden had agreed to protect her anonymity if she was ...
Gion is the setting of much of Arthur Golden's novel Memoirs of a Geisha. Gion Kobu was also where Mineko Iwasaki lived and conducted business as a geisha, as mentioned in her autobiography Geisha of Gion. Gion is the setting of several films by Kenji Mizoguchi, including: 1936 Sisters of the Gion (祇園の姉妹, Gion no kyōdai)
She is also president of East West Communications, a company that facilitates cultural understanding between Japan and the United States. A well-known translator of Japanese spiritual and cultural texts, Rande co-authored the New York Times bestseller Geisha, A Life with Mineko Iwasaki (Atria, 2002). Rande is also a founding board member of the ...
According to Iwasaki, Golden had grossly misunderstood the rite of mizuage, which was merely a celebration of the coming of age of a geisha and not some auction of virginity, as depicted in Golden’s book. Iwasaki went on to say that when a geisha came of age, she required new and costly kimonos and hairstyles.