Reading questions for Autobiography of a Geisha

(First Half--childhood through first love)
1.  What is Masuda's life like as a child before she goes to the geisha house?  What kinds of work does she do and how is she treated? (Chapter One) How does the harshness Masuda encounters relate to the child's death  in a geisha house described on p. 30?



2. She is indentured to a geisha house (Takenoya) in 1936 at age 12.  What are her first impressions of the geisha house and what kinds of work is she assigned?  How is she treated? What are her four Elder Sisters--Takechiyo, Karuta, Takemi, Shizuka--like, and how do they relate to the newest geisha house novice? (Chapter Two) There is also an elder sister named Hamako, introduced in Chapter Two, who takes the name Tenmari when she becomes a geisha; she figures more in Chapter three.



3.  How does Masuda end up in a hospital and what events occur while she is there?  What impression do you get about medical care in 1930s Japan?  How do her experiences lead her to a new resolve to become a "fully fledged geisha" (p. 42)?


4.   What do we learn in Chapter Three about the hot-spring geisha business, especially about payments? What is the relationship between a hot-spring geisha and her danna (patron)?  What do we learn, too, about the novice Michiko/Fusa and the "sleep-with-anyone-geisha" Senari?



5.  In Chapter Four, we learn how Masuda meets her danna, experiences mizuage, and prays for a miscarriage.  We also see how the geisha Tsukiko (formerly Michiko/Fusa) becomes suicidal when a love affair with a customer turns sour.  How does Masuda's narrative direct our sympathies?  Do we end up blaming the geisha, the danna, the system?  What happens to Karuta in this chapter?
What do we see about Masuda's attitude toward her work and her position in life in this quote on p. 69? "In every human heart is a place where you put your broken dreams.  When something doesn't work out, no matter what it may be, you just have to give it up and stuff it in with your broken dreams.  And make sure you keep the lid on tight."


6.  In Chapter Five, we learn more about how hot-springs geisha manage their danna, and we also see Masuda experiencing romance.  What leads her to attempt suicide at this point?