Mineko Iwasaki

Mineko Iwasaki ( Japanese岩崎 峰 子Iwasaki Mineko ; born November 2, 1949 in Kyōto as Masako Tanaka ) was the most famous geisha of Japan for more than a decade . In the meantime she has made herself known as an author through her book The True Story of the Geisha .

Life

Masako Tanaka was born as the eleventh child of a family of artists in Kyoto. She lived with her parents Shigezo Tanaka and Chie Akamatsu, her four older brothers and three older sisters in Yamashima, a suburb of the former imperial city of Kyoto, in relatively poor conditions. At the age of five she left her home forever, as she moved into the Okiya Iwasaki, one of the most successful geisha houses of Gion Kobu (famous geisha district of Kyoto) as an atatori (heiress) .

A year later, on June 6th, she began her real training as a geiko (geisha) and was adopted by the Okiya Iwasaki. This also gave her her stage name “Mineko Iwasaki”. She received lessons from the "Grand Master" of Yachiyo Inoue IV , the leading school for cultural dances in Japan. In addition to dancing, she received lessons in arts, calligraphy , tea ceremony , singing, and playing the koto and shamisen stringed instruments . She learned a lot and loved to learn, and dancing gave her a lot of joy.

Her debut as Maiko (precursor to Geiko) took place on February 15, 1965. Between the ages of 15 and 21, she attended Ozashiki (banquets or dinner parties) or public events every evening . Her customers included the most powerful business bosses, politicians, emperors and kings in the world. There was no day off for young Mineko in those six years, which had an impact on her health. She developed kidney problems, had appendectomy and had her tonsils removed.

At the age of 15 she met her "great love" Toshio (stage name: Shintarō Katsu ) during an Ozashiki . Five years later, the now grown-up began a relationship with the already married actor. It was a very happy time in their life, but the relationship was broken up by his lies and empty promises.

Then a new chapter began in Iwasaki's life. On July 15, 1978, at the age of 29, she resigned from her job as a geiko and devoted herself to other projects. Then she met the young artist Jin'ichirō Satō know. The wedding followed just under a month later, she had her daughter Kosuke and moved to Iwakura , a suburb of Kyoto . There she decided to write a book about her life as a geisha with the help of her family .

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In addition to numerous advertising campaigns and photo shoots, Mineko took part in a 1970 film directed by Kon Ichikawa (written by Zenzo Matsuyama ). She also published the book Geisha: A Life . In Germany it was published in 2002 under the title The true story of the geisha .

Publications

• Mineko Iwasaki, with Rande Brown: The True Story of the Geisha. Verlag Marion von Schröder, 200, ISBN 3-547-71006-5 .

Web links

• Interview with Mineko Iwasaki