title: Autobiography of a Geisha by: Masuda, Sayo published: 2005 read: 2023-09 preview

This book is often compared with Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha. And for a good reason: the topics are almost identical; the narratives are very similar.

But this book has one important different aspect: contrary to Golden’s book, the genuineness of which is sometimes doubted, this is a real autobiography.

I enjoyed reading both books. After Golden’s Memoir, many of the mind-boggling facts of Geisha life are recognisable. Glamour from the outside; pain and abuse from the inside. The war, and in particular post-war Japan, changes Geisha life completely, and Sayo Masuda is in the middle of it, ending up in factory jobs during and servant jobs after the war.

Not a pretty life. But a true story. I am happy I read it.