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Overview
In this classic best seller, Liza Dalby, the first non-Japanese ever to have trained as a geisha, offers an insider's look at the exclusive world of female companions to the Japanese male elite. A new preface examines how geisha have been profoundly affected by the changes of the past quarter century yet—especially in Kyoto—have managed to take advantage of modern developments to maintain their social position with flair.
Synopsis
"Dalby knows more about the subject than I'll ever know, and she writes about it with grace and eloquence."—Arthur Golden, author of Memoirs of a Geisha
Rachel Taylor
With sharp insight into Japanese social customs, she describes a lifestyle that no other Westerner has experienced.... — Brill's Content
Editorials
Rachel Taylor
With sharp insight into Japanese social customs, she describes a lifestyle that no other Westerner has experienced.... — Brill's ContentHeather Harlan
More than just a history and analysis of geisha as a unique social phenomenon, Geisha is also a personal account of [the author's] relationships with these women and the closed society she shared with them for a while as their "sister and daughter."— AsianWeek
San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
An engrossing account of a society shrouded by centuries of mystery....Dalby brings us the real women behind the white face paint and silk kimonos. Her patient exploration of the nuances and ambivalences inherent in geisha life leaves the reader with a new understanding, and respect, for these hardworking often lonely...curators of tradition....She has given us an unprecendented perspective on a fascinating society.Donald Rich
The authoritative work on the geisha.— The New York Times Book Review
Rachel Taylor
With sharp insight into Japanese social customs, she describes a lifestyle that no other Westerner has experienced....— Brill's Content
San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
An engrossing account of a society shrouded by centuries of mystery....Dalby brings us the real women behind the white face paint and silk kimonos. Her patient exploration of the nuances and ambivalences inherent in geisha life leaves the reader with a new understanding, and respect, for these hardworking often lonely...curators of tradition....She has given us an unprecendented perspective on a fascinating society.Lesley Downer
[The book] is a meticulously researched work of scholarship, but is also a delightfully personal account fo Dalby's year among the Geisha...the bible of Geisha studies to this day.—Times Literary Supplement