Geisha Page 11

  Auntie Oima didn’t want Mamoru in the same house with me for one minute longer than necessary. She called Mother Sakaguchi for help. Mother Sakaguchi didn’t want us under the same roof either. So they came up with a plan.

  The next day Auntie Oima called me to her. “Mine-chan, I have a great favor to ask. Mother Sakaguchi needs some assistance at home right now and she’d like you to stay with her for a while to help out. Would you mind? We’d really appreciate it.”

  It took me no time to answer. “I’d be happy to do what I can.”

  “Thank you, dear. I’ll pack up your clothes but you had better get your school things together yourself.”

  To tell the truth, I was secretly relieved.

  I moved into Mother Sakaguchi’s house that afternoon.

  It took two weeks for Old Meanie to find Yaeko a house. It was south of Shijo on Nishihanamikoji Street. She loaned her $35,000 to buy it. Yaeko moved there with Mamoru. I tried to avoid him as much as possible, but he always had something nasty to say when we passed each other on the street. Auntie Oima agreed to continue managing Yaeko’s career. The benefit of this strategy was that the Iwasaki okiya would not lose face in the community as a result of the incident. Yaeko was being punished, but no one would have to know.

  I was having a terrible time. I suffered from horrible nightmares and felt constantly on the verge of hysteria. I couldn’t stop throwing up. I knew that everyone was really worried about me but I was incapable of pretending that I was all right. Mother Sakaguchi had one of her maids watch over me twenty-four hours a day. This went on for months.

  15

  I’VE OFTEN WONDERED why Auntie Oima put up with Yaeko’s behavior for as long as she did when she was so strict about everything else. Was it simply a matter of harmony and saving face over dissonance and disgrace? Partly, I’m sure. But I think she also felt honor bound to deal decently with Yaeko out of respect for the fact that Yaeko was my sister and I was the atotori. And, whatever her faults, Yaeko was still a member of the Iwasaki okiya family.

  Mother Sakaguchi, however, didn’t believe that Auntie Oima’s punishment of Yaeko went far enough. She called Yaeko to her and meted out a harsher sentence: “I forbid you to dance in public for the next three years. I have already informed Mistress Aiko of my decision, so it is final. Until further notice, you are also banished from our inner circle. You may not step over the threshold of this or any other house in our lineage. We wish no concourse with you. Send me no gifts. Do not trouble yourself with the customary greetings or ritual visits, even at the New Year.

  “And there is one more thing. I forbid you to come anywhere near Mineko. Do you understand? You are to have nothing to do with her. I absolve you of your duties as her Onesan, in fact but not in name. You will attend to her debut in a secondary position. The gentleman from the Suehiroya will tell where you are to sit on that occasion. Now go. And don’t come back.”

  No one would have faulted Mother Sakaguchi for expelling Yaeko from Gion Kobu for her activities. But she chose a less drastic punishment, one that effectively curtailed Yaeko’s activity for the next few years without bringing dishonor on any of our names, particularly mine.

  Living with Mother Sakaguchi was a terrific education in how the geiko business functions. She was a great businesswoman and a real power broker. I like to think of her as the “godmother” of the neighborhood. People called upon her constantly, seeking her influence, intervention, and advice.

  Kanoko Sakaguchi was a true daughter of Gion Kobu. She was not adopted, but was born to the proprietress of the prominent Sakaguchi okiya. The Sakaguchi okiya was known for its musicians and Kanoko became a master of the ohayashi, Japanese percussion. She debuted in her teens and grew into a very popular geiko.

  Kanoko’s mother appointed Kanoko as her atotori. The Sakaguchi okiya was large and prosperous, and Kanoko had many “younger sisters.” But she wanted to concentrate on her music rather than running the okiya. She encouraged the younger geiko in her charge to become independent.

  Free to focus on her music, Kanoko quickly rose within the hierarchy of the Gion Kobu. She received certification that gave her the sole authority to teach certain of its dances. In the Gion Kobu system, this means that anyone who wished to perform the ohayashi had to get specific permission from Mother Sakaguchi to do so.

  There is a position in the organization of the Inoue School called a koken. The koken are sort of like regents or guardians. There are five families who hold this honorary title, the Sakaguchi being one of them.

  One of the reasons the koken are important is because they are in charge of the selection of the iemoto. This succession happens only once in two or three generations and has a profound effect on the direction of the school. As a koken, Mother Sakaguchi was instrumental in electing Inoue Yachio IV to her present position. The iemoto was beholden to Mother Sakaguchi for her support.

  But Mother Sakaguchi’s influence went beyond Big Mistress. By birth or circumstance, she was an authority figure to many of the major players in Gion Kobu, including Mistress Kazama, the dance teacher, Kotei Yoshizumi, the shamisen player, various ochaya owners, officers of the Kabukai, and, of course, the okasan of all the Sakaguchi branch okiya.

  Mother Sakaguchi was ten years younger than Auntie Oima, so would have been around eighty when I went to live with her. Yet she was still vigorous and actively involved in Gion Kobu affairs. Just look at all the care and attention she lavished on my career and well-being. I lived with Mother Sakaguchi for the rest of the seventh and all of the eighth grade.

  The move changed where I slept but not what I did. I still went to school in the morning and to my lessons in the afternoon. I studied hard and practiced even harder. By this time, I was so entwined with the larger community of Gion Kobu that I hardly noticed the difference, except that I finally had to give up my lifelong habit of suckling on Kuniko or Auntie Oima’s breast until I fell asleep.

  I continued to do well in school. I was very attached to my eighth grade homeroom teacher. One day he became ill and had to be hospitalized. I was still traumatized by Masayuki’s death and was terrified that he was going to meet the same fate. The principal wouldn’t tell me where he was, but I kept after him until he wrote down his address and slipped it to me on a piece of paper.

  I went into action and organized the class. Ignoring the protests of the substitute teacher, we folded 999 origami cranes in a mere three days and strung them all together into a mobile meant to speed our teacher’s recovery. Then we folded the last crane, the thousandth. This one was for our teacher to add to the mobile when he got well. I wasn’t allowed to cross Shijo Street so my classmates had to deliver the mobile without me.

  Our teacher returned to school two months later. He gave us all pencils as thank you presents. I was enormously relieved that he didn’t die.

  I moved back into the Iwasaki okiya at the beginning of ninth grade.

  In my absence, Tomiko’s term of service had expired. When Tomiko joined the okiya she signed a contract for a six-year term of service. This meant she was basically an employee of the okiya. When her contract was finished she was free to continue working as a geiko, living outside the okiya but under its management, or do something else. She chose to get married.

  As a contract geiko, Tomiko remained a Tanaka throughout her sojourn at the okiya. She was therefore encouraged, unlike me, to maintain an active relationship with my parents and siblings, which she did, visiting them regularly. My sister Yoshio got engaged and her fiancé introduced Tomiko to the man she ended up marrying.

  I missed her, but it was good to be home. I was looking forward to my junior high school trip, a highlight of every Japanese adolescent’s life. We were going to Tokyo. A week before we were set to leave my tummy began to ache and I went to the lavatory. Something was very wrong. I was bleeding from down there. I must have developed hemorrhoids, a condition that runs in my family. I didn’t know what to do. Finally Fusae-chan, one of our apprentic
es, called in to see if I was all right. I asked her to call Auntie Oima, who spoke to me through the door.

  “Mine-chan, what’s going on in there?”

  “Uhhhhh, something terrible has happened. I’m bleeding.”

  “That’s not terrible, Mineko. You are fine. This is good.”

  “Hemorrhoids are good?”

  “It’s not hemorrhoids. You have your period.”

  “My what?”

  “Your period. You are menstruating. It’s perfectly normal. Didn’t you learn about this at school?”

  “They told us something. But that was a long time ago.”

  One might think that living in an all-female society would have prepared me for this eventuality. But the opposite was true. No one ever discussed intimate matters. I didn’t have the faintest idea of what was happening to me.

  “Let me get Kun-chan to help you. I no longer have any of the things you’ll need.”

  The household made a big deal of my “attainment.” This event is generally marked in Japan with a special dinner at home, but, because I was the Iwasaki atotori, Auntie Oima turned it into quite an occasion. That night we had a large, festive dinner in the okiya and people came from all over Gion Kobu to pay respects and say congratulations. We gave out boxes of a special sweet called ochobo, a small rounded confection with a red tip on top made to resemble a budding breast.

  I found the whole thing terribly embarrassing, and, like many girls my age, hated the idea of everyone knowing what had happened to me. How come we kept celebrating things that made me feel bad?

  Yaeko settled her loans that year. She repaid Auntie Oima the money she had borrowed in 1952 to cover her debts and repaid Old Meanie the money she had borrowed in 1962 to buy a house. Auntie Oima returned the proper sums to Mother Sakaguchi.

  In lieu of interest, Yaeko presented Old Meanie with an amethyst obi clasp. Old Meanie was completely offended by the gesture. Yaeko had purchased the clasp at a jewelry store that we dealt with all the time. She knew that we would know exactly how much it cost. Instead of helping to patch things up, the ostentatious gift was further evidence of Yaeko’s vulgarity and lack of comprehension about the way the karyukai was supposed to work.

  I myself was beginning to resist the restriction of the rules that dictated every aspect of life in the karyukai. This was only natural. I was fourteen. Without telling my family I did something really wicked. I joined the basketball team.

  This was no easy feat. I was strictly forbidden to engage in any activity that might cause me physical harm. I told Old Meanie that I joined the flower-arranging club. She was pleased that I was interested in such a refined pursuit.

  I loved the game. The years of dancing had honed my concentration and sense of balance to a fine point. I was a gifted player. My team came in second in the regional tournament that year.

  Old Meanie never found out.

  16

  IN NOVEMBER OF 1964, when she was ninety-two years old, Auntie Oima suddenly fell ill and was confined to her futon. My fifteenth birthday came and went. I stayed by her side as much as possible, talking to her, massaging her old and tired muscles. She wouldn’t let anyone besides Kuniko or me bathe her or change her bedpan.

  In Gion Kobu we begin our New Year preparations in mid-December, before the rest of the country gets started. We begin on December 13, a day we call Kotohajime.

  The first order of business on Kotohajime is to pay a visit to the iemoto for a ritual exchange of greetings and gifts. The iemoto gives each of us our new fan for the coming year. The color of the fan corresponds to our present rank. In return, in the name of our family, we present her with two items: okagamisan, a pair of pounded glutinous rice cakes placed one on top of the other, and a red and white envelope containing cash. The envelope is tied with an intricate decoration made of gold and silver twine. The amount of money is linked to the “price” of the fan that we received, that is, our status within the school hierarchy: less for children, more for senior geiko. When Kotohajime is over the iemoto donates the sweets and money to a school for physically handicapped or mentally retarded children.

  On December 13 I got dressed and dutifully went to pay my Kotohajime visit. I remember feeling a bit nostalgic. This was my last year as an amateur. I was scheduled to take the maiko examination the following autumn when I turned sixteen, and, if I passed, would begin my professional career.

  So I was disconcerted when Big Mistress nodded to me and said, “Mine-chan, there is an exam the day after tomorrow at the Nyokoba and I want you to take it. It starts at ten o’clock, so please be there promptly by nine-thirty.”

  I had no choice but to agree, although I really didn’t feel like dealing with one more thing on top of Auntie Oima’s illness. I went home and told Auntie Oima the news. I couldn’t believe the change that came over her. She was like her old self again. Her face broke out in a grin and she actually started singing the suisui song. For the first time I understood how important it was to Auntie Oima that I become a maiko. It was a powerful realization. I really hadn’t been paying attention.

  Old Meanie came home in the middle of a banquet. Auntie Oima told her about the examination. Old Meanie became even more excited than Auntie Oima.

  “Oh my goodness. That doesn’t leave us much time. Kuniko, cancel my engagements for the rest of the day. Come to think of it, cancel tomorrow and the next day too. All right, Mineko, let’s get to work. First, call two of the girls and ask them to come over. It’s better if you practice in a group. Go, hurry, we have to get started.”

  I tried not to laugh at her officiousness.

  “But I’m not taking the exam for real until next year. This one’s no big deal. I basically know the dances.”

  “Don’t talk nonsense. We have to get to work and we don’t have much time. Now go call your friends. And be quick about it.”

  I still didn’t see the point but did as I was told.

  The girls were glad for the extra attention.

  We had been instructed to prepare seven pieces. Old Meanie pulled out her shamisen and began to play. We rehearsed each piece hundreds of times. We worked day and night, barely stopping to eat or sleep. By the end of the two days I knew every infinitesimal movement of all seven dances by heart. Old Meanie didn’t let up for a minute. She was amazing.

  On December 15 Old Meanie woke me extra early to make sure that we arrived at the Nyokoba on time. Thirteen girls were sitting and waiting in Studio 2. Everyone was very nervous. Except for me. I still hadn’t grasped the importance of the moment.

  Today was the last chance for some of them. If they didn’t pass this time they would have to give up their dreams of becoming a maiko.

  We were called in one by one to be tested. The door was closed so we couldn’t see what was going on behind it. This only added to the air of apprehension in the hallway.

  We wouldn’t know which piece we had to perform until we got inside and, alone, mounted the stage. Then Big Mistress would tell us what to do.

  Two of my friends went before me.

  “What did you get?” I asked when they came out.

  “Torioi [the story of a strolling shamisen player],” they both answered.

  “Piece of cake,” I thought. “I’ve got that one.” I began to dance Torioi in my head, meticulously going over each and every movement. I really didn’t understand what everyone was so worried about.

  Then it was my turn.

  The first part of the exam consisted of opening the door. I did it precisely as I had been taught. By now the mechanical movements had become second nature. They felt liquid and graceful.

  I slid open the door, bowed, and asked permission to enter. I understood why the other girls were so nervous. Big Mistress wasn’t in there by herself. All the little mistresses were there. And the master of the Ichirikitei. And members of the Kabukai. And delegates from the ochaya and the Geiko associations. And some people I didn’t recognize. There were rows of people sitting in front of
the stage. Ready to pass judgement.

  I tried to maintain my composure and mounted the stage as calmly as I could.

  Big Mistress turned to me and said one word: “Nanoha [the story of a butterfly and a cole blossom].”

  Oops, I thought. Not Torioi. Okay then, this is it. Give it your best shot.

  I paused for a moment, said “thank you,” acknowledged the panel of judges, and began to dance. I performed the first section of the piece flawlessly. But, then, right before the end, I made a minuscule mistake. I stopped in my tracks, mid-pose.

  I turned to the accompanist and announced, “I’ve made a mistake. Please begin again from the top.”

  Big Mistress interrupted. “We never would have noticed if you hadn’t said something. Excuse me, everyone, but since Mineko had almost completed the piece, do you mind if she only does the last section again?”

  “Of course,” they all responded.

  “Mine-chan, just the last part please.”

  “Yes,” I said and proceeded to finish the piece.

  I thanked the panel again and left the stage.

  Old Meanie was pacing the hallway like a cat. She pounced the second she saw me. “How did it go?”

  “I made a mistake.”

  “A mistake? What kind of mistake? Was it bad? Do you think you failed?”

  “For sure.”

  “Oh, dear, I hope not.”

  “Why?” I still wasn’t taking the whole thing very seriously.

  “Because Auntie Oima will be devastated. She is lying there with bated breath waiting for the results. I was hoping to bring her good news.”

  Now I felt really terrible. I had completely forgotten about Auntie Oima. Not only was I a lousy dancer, but I was selfish and disloyal as well. The longer we waited the worse I felt. At last a member of the Kabukai summoned us all into the entranceway of the Nyokoba.

  “Here are the results of today’s examination. I am pleased to announce that Miss Mineko Iwasaki has taken first place, with a score of 97 points. Congratulations, Mineko.”