Memoirs of a Geisha

1. Memoirs of a Geisha By Arthur Golden

2. Sayuri (Sakamoto Chiyo) • The novel's heroine, Sayuri (born Chiyo) is born in the small fishing village of Yoroido. She lives with her older sister, Satsu, and her parents. Her unusual gray eyes distinguish her from other girls, and this feature plays a significant role in her success later as a geisha. She is clever, energetic, and imaginative. In childhood, her imagination shows her innocence as she dreams up fantasies about being adopted by Tanaka. As a woman, however, her imagination shows her maturity, as she is able to maneuver the complicated social and interpersonal workings of being a geisha. • Sayuri is skilled at learning to socialize with men and manipulate them, although she does not use her skills for her own selfish pride. This makes it harder when she must find a way to avoid having Nobu as her danna. Sayuri is driven by feelings for the Chairman that she has been harboring since she was a young girl. This is what inspires her to be a great geisha, and it is what compels her to hurt Nobu. In the end, however, her years of longing are rewarded when the Chairman becomes her danna until his death.

3. The Chairman (Iwamura Ken) • Sayuri meets the Chairman years before she becomes a geisha, and his elegance and kindness inspire her to be a great geisha. She wants to be the kind of woman who spends time in the presence of such men. For years, she dreams about him and fantasizes about impressing him with her beauty and charm. When she meets him again years later, she finds that he is the head of Iwamura Electric, a prominent company. She is delighted that he is still the kind man she remembers. • The Chairman has secret feelings for Sayuri, which he does not reveal because of his loyalty to Nobu, his business partner & friend. But when Nobu rejects Sayuri, the Chairman becomes her danna (a man who pays a geisha to be his long-term mistress). He does not marry her (he already has a family), but he pays all of her expenses and allows her to move to New York to open her teahouse and rear their son. He takes care of Sayuri until his death.

4. Hatsumomo • When Sayuri arrives at the okiya, Hatsumomo is the only working geisha in the house. Her great success brings in all the money for the house to function and support her profession. She is devastatingly beautiful but equally cruel. She can put on a charming disposition while entertaining, but in reality she is scheming, manipulative, and cold. • She sets her mind on destroying Sayuri's future as a geisha, and she begins early. Before Sayuri even enrolls in geisha school, Hatsumomo ridicules her and lies about her to Mother. When Sayuri becomes Mameha's apprentice, Hatsumomo takes on Pumpkin as hers. Hatsumomo thinks nothing of spreading lies about Sayuri in the teahouses to ruin her chances of achieving success. Her ambition is blinding, and she cannot tolerate competition or the thought of future competition. Ultimately, her selfishness and hate lead to her downfall, and she is removed from the okiya and reduced to prostitution. Sayuri imagines that she may have eventually drunk herself to death.

5. General Tottori • General Tottori becomes Sayuri's first danna. He is in charge of procurements in the military, so his connections make him an attractive danna prospect. It is wartime in Japan, and prices are rising while other items are being rationed. Tottori is able to provide things for the okiya that other men cannot. He is not affectionate or attentive, but he does provide for Sayuri and the okiya until his arrest.

6. Mameha • Mameha is one of the most successful geishas in Japan. She agrees to take Sayuri as her "little sister," an apprentice position. Mameha is not as beautiful as Hatsumomo, but she is kinder and wiser. She is very clever and knowledgeable about the social politics of Gion. She also makes more money than Hatsumomo because she has a danna. Mameha and Hatsumomo are rivals, so Mameha is happy to help Sayuri become more successful than Hatsumomo and end her reign of terror.

7. Pumpkin • Sayuri gives the other girl her age at the okiya the nickname "Pumpkin," and it stays with her even into her geisha years. Pumpkin begins working at the okiya as a servant until she is ready to begin geisha school. She is sweet natured, but not particularly intelligent. She has difficulty mastering the skills taught at geisha schools, and Hatsumomo has no trouble dominating her when she becomes her apprentice. Pumpkin and Sayuri are friends until their apprenticeships with rival geisha force them to compete with each other. The backlash of the rivalry generates bitterness in Pumpkin, who sabotages Sayuri's plan to alienate Nobu. Pumpkin seeks revenge because Mother makes Sayuri the okiya's adopted daughter after the position is promised to her.

8. Dr. Crab • Dr. Crab is a physician in the Gion district. He is called "Dr. Crab" for the way he hunches his shoulders and sticks out his elbows. He is methodical in his practice and in his personal life. He has a particular interest in winning novice geishas' mizuage, or virginity. This arrangement is made with a geisha's okiya when both parties agree upon a sum of money. Mameha uses Dr. Crab's reputation as a "mizuage specialist" to drive up the price of Sayuri's mizuage to a record fee.

9. Mother (Nitta Kayoko) • Mother is the head of the okiya, and her primary concern is money. She is in charge at the okiya. She is strikingly ugly. Mother tries to be fair, as she knows that Hatsumomo is manipulative and conniving, but her main goal is to keep the finances in order. When Sayuri attempts to run away from the okiya, Mother stops paying for her geisha lessons until Mameha makes her see that there is serious money to be made. Later, when she adopts Sayuri as the daughter of the okiya, she continues to capitalize on any opportunity to make money from her.

10. Tanaka Ichiro • Tanaka Ichiro is the wealthy owner of the Japan Coastal Seafood Company in Yoroido. He arranges the deal with Sayuri's father to broker her and her sister to businesses in Kyoto. Sayuri initially finds him very strong and kind, but she grows to hate him for orchestrating her fate. When Sayuri's parents die, Tanaka sends religious objects from their home to Sayuri, along with a letter meant to encourage the girl.

11. Sakamoto Satsu • Satsu is Sayuri's sister. Although she is six years older than Sayuri (fifteen at the time she leaves home), she is brokered to a brothel to work as a lowly prostitute because of her plain features and chubby physique. At home, Satsu is a hard and conscientious worker who lacks the imagination of her younger sister. Later, in Kyoto, she cannot bear to live as a prostitute and plans to escape, taking Sayuri with her. Sayuri does not make it to their meeting place, but Satsu manages to escape successfully. She returns to Yoroido and runs away with Tanaka's assistant's son.

12. Auntie NittaAuntie manages the staff and performs various functions around the okiya, run by her adoptive sister, Mother. Because her hip is malformed, she was destined early to the ranks of servitude in the geisha district. She interacts with Sayuri the most of the three women who own the house, and she is the most understanding. Granny NittaGranny is the adoptive mother of Mother and Auntie. She is a sour, mean-spirited old woman who complains constantly. In her younger years, she was a geisha, but she used a common face cream containing lead, and her skin is now ghastly as a result. Granny dies when a space heater in her room electrocutes her.

13. Sakamoto Minoru • Sakamoto is Sayuri's father, a fisherman. She says that he "was more at ease on the sea than anywhere else" and describes how his time at home was generally spent untangling nets. He had a prior wife and children, all of whom died, which may account for the deep creases in his face. As his wife is dying, he feels he has little choice but to accept Tanaka's offer to sell the two girls to have different lives elsewhere.

14. Toshikazu Nobu • Nobu is the Chairman's business partner and friend. As president of Iwamura Electric, he proves himself a perceptive and loyal businessman. Nobu's face and body have terrible burn scars from a bomb explosion during a military maneuver. His heroics also cost him his arm. For this reason, many people are afraid to get close to him, and his harsh demeanor does not make him any easier to approach. Those who know him well, however, find that he is a man of great character and loyalty, who has very human feelings hidden beneath his gruff exterior. He and Sayuri become friends, and he shows unusual affection in his treatment of her. Her ultimate rejection of him is deeply hurtful.