Geisha

I found this book interesting and no one could take away the fact that Liza Dalby worked as a Geisha for one year.However I found it a little misleading as the write up led one to believe Liza Dalby was the only Western women to become a Geisha, my understanding is, the lady ACTED as a Geisha for one year in order to write about Geisha life. I understood to become a Giesha took years of training. However Liza Dalby is to be congratulated for her contribution,This must have been a great time for Liz.

an amazing insight into the life of geisha!!

Very interesting piece of research and plenty of photos to illustrate.

This is a non-fiction book which actually was based on Dalby's university dissertation, and expanded into a book. What this means is whilst it is incredibly informative and factual (though potentially outdated in some ways with statistics etc) it is not necessarily designed to interest and engage you the way a fiction novel or autobiography would.This is not a complaint, but only to say only those who are really interested in Geisha culture or those who enjoy learning about other cultures and reading these types of non fiction books will likely enjoy it the way they thought they might.I found it incredibly interesting, but not as riveting as geisha autobiographies available (Iwasaki and Masuda) and note that this book doesn't have any glossy colour pictures - there are a few grainy black and white shots now and again, but it is not a phonebook.Overall, it is a must have in a lot of ways and sparked a lot of cultural interest in this area. Dalby is knowledgeable, respectful and despite my comments above I did find this an interesting read and enjoyed Dalby's narrator style, where she successfully weaves together various narratives over topics in a roughly chronological way.

In `Geisha' Liza Dalby has managed to write a book studying the lives of Geisha and how their art developed, whilst at the same time making it flow like a novel. This book is an in-depth look at Geisha life and also touches upon general life in Japan as well, which makes for fascinating and captivating reading. It is illustrated throughout with photos and a few charts/graphs to demonstrate points made. Liza is the only (at the time of writing) foreigner to be introduced into the Geisha world and this affords her, and us, with a unique insight into the traditions and lifestyle of Geisha. She writes with genuine humour and with sympathy for the lives Geisha lead and the sacrifices they make for their art and this is passed on to the reader. I found myself completely immersed in the lifestyles and aspirations of those described and had a deeper understanding of Geisha life as a result. An informative read, written in a beautiful way, what more can you ask for?Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.

Geisha by Liza Dalby is an innovative insight into the world of geisha, told by the world's first ever foreign geisha, accepted into the ranks of a prestigious, "flower and willow world" of Japan's traditional history.This is a very beautiful book, both telling Liza's (or Ichigiku; her geisha name) story of becoming a geisha in order to forward her anthropological course and telling us the history of Japan and its geisha world. Even though I love Japan and its culture usually I don't like history but the way Liza tells this is both compelling and very interesting to an anti-historian such as myself.The book almost comes to an end too soon (I finished it in four days) and I can't wait to purchase Liza's Kimono to learn more about the beautiful clothing geisha and maiko wear. If you have the slightest interest in Japanese history or geisha culture you have to buy this!

I found this book very interesting and learned a lot about the world of the geisha at the time the book was written. As we then visited Kyoto and walked through Pontocho and Gion it really brought all the stories she told and descriptions to life for me.It was not an easy read as it was factual and some parts such as the history I found quite heavy going but the more modern sections were truly fascinating.It was really lovely to see modern geisha or geika as they are known in Kyoto these days and see the places where they lived in worked as it brought all the descriptions in Dalby's book to life for me.

This is a very interesting book that gives a valuable insight into the world of geisha. As a more accessible text based on an anthropologist's study, it achieves an in depth look at history, tradition and the geisha world of thirty years ago from the point of view of an outsider who became accepted into the Pontocho community. It is well written and presented in a format that can be dipped in and out of with ease, with excellent notes, glossary and indexing.Unlike some other reviewers on this page, I have read and re-read this book, and frequently use it for reference. The background information about such topics as the different geisha districts in Kyoto, geisha names etc. is excellent in helping the reader's greater understanding of the subject.I would recommend following up this book by reading the autobiography "Geisha of Gion", by Mineko Iwasaki, which is a highly personal account by the leading geisha of the 1960s, in contrast to Dalby's more objective study.Readers, please remember that Arthur Golden's "Memoirs of a Geisha" is fiction! If you are looking for "racy" fiction, full of vague details about "oriental life", this is NOT the book for you...