Mineko Iwasaki's Geisha, A Life
Geisha is a wonderful book for people who want to learn about Japanese culture and the geisha arts. Iwasaki explains the intricacies and politics of the business while telling of her life as a geisha in post-World War II Japan. Reviewer Alyssa Kolsky writes “there’s something alluring about a book that details the day-to-day minutes of one of the world’s most fascinating, secretive and oldest professions” (74).
Mineko Iwasaki is a strong willed woman who becomes the Number One geisha of Kyoto’s top geisha house, the Iwasaki oikya. Starting her career at age five, Mineko quickly gains notoriety and overcomes the hurdles that come with being a geisha. She retires at age 29 after fourteen years as Japan’s most famous geisha.
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As Mineko describes her life in the oikya, she also includes the histories of the Gion Kobu district where she lived, and the women in the oikya, along with the details of the social-political structure between geishas, their clients, and the businesses that support the geisha arts.
Some readers might also find Geisha a little dispassionate for their tastes. “Her lack of reflection and tendency toward mechanical description make the work more of a manual than a memoir,” (56) writes Sarah Gold and Mark Rotella. An anonymous reviewer for Kirkus Reviews describes a number of passages as “quite a mouthful for the uninitiated” (1198).
Despite Iwasaki’s writing style, Geisha is a wonderful book for fans of the geisha arts and women rising above obstacles that stand in their
Sometimes people are judged by their looks, and preferences will be made towards the more beautiful people before the less beautiful people. What individuals don’t put into account is that the person’s personality is part of their beauty. In Gail Tsukiyama’s novel, The Samurai’s Garden, through the characterization of Sachi’s personality and adversities, Gail Tsukiyama conveys the message that beauty is deeper than just the outside and this message is important because one shouldn’t judge someone just by their looks.
Inspiration comes from many forms; it comes from friends, family, music, television, and even strangers. Inspiration can come at one subtlety or it can hit you like a bus. Professional, amateur, or even a novice can be inspired to make something. No matter what, an artist needs inspiration in order to create something out of nothing or in order to help finish an already existing art work. Here the inspiration from Mariko Mori will be conveyed, to know what helps give her inspiration that motivates her to do the art work that she does. Whether she herself is doing the performance or it is just a sculpture in a gallery, her works are unique, just like a finger print. What gave her the inspiration on two of her works;
Saikaku, Ihara. Life of a Sensuous Woman. The Longman Anthology of World Literature. (Vol. D) Ed. Damrosch. New York: Pearson, 2004. 604-621. [Excerpt.]
The character, Miss Sasaki, who was left trapped, disabled and severely injured, by the dropping of the bomb suffered more in the long haul, from the emotional impact than just the physical destruction alone. Not only was she physically disabled, but also emotionally disabled, as the overwhelming feeling of being hopeless is a permanent psychological scar on the brain. Being unable to walk properly for the remainder of her life, Miss Sasaki, knew that she would no longer be able to provide for her family anymore; in Japanese cultural the honor of their family is of utmost importance, similar in nature to radical religious groups. Also of Japanese cultural priorities, were that of marriage. In Japan, women who were married were looked upon with higher statue and class. Miss Sasaki knew that her chances of getting married now had been reduced and for a woman of this time, that realization, also leaves damaged emotional baggage within herself. All of the aforementioned, left Miss Sasaki depressed for years to come and ultimately left her a permanent emotional scar affecting the rest of her life. By including the accounts of Miss Sasaki, in this book, John Hersey, exposes to the readers, that atomic warfare not only affects the human body physically for years to come but also
1910 to 1920 was the one of the greatest decades for Major League Baseball. Many amazing events occurred during this decade; although, some devastating and extremely sad events also occurred. Half of these years were taken up by war, even many Hall of Fame players served. This decade still ended up being a great one for Major League Baseball. From Hall of Fame greats to Negro League pitchers, this decade produced greats. The 1910’s also set up the 1920’s for amazing players too.
The book, Memoirs of a Geisha, is about a girl, Chiyo, who was born in a fishing village in Yoroido, Japan. Chiyo was born into a lower income village; she and her sister, Satsu, were sold by their father into the geisha society to make up for the lack of medicine that her mom needed. Satsu ended up in the pleasure district in Kyoto and Chiyo was forced to go to an Okiya house to work to become a Geisha for the rest of her life. The meaning of a geisha is artisan, it is a Japanese hostess trained to entertain men with conversation, dance, and song.
Saikaku, Ihara. Life of a Sensuous Woman. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3rd Ed. Volume D. Ed. Martin Puchner. New York: Norton, 2013. 591-611. Print.
Since its publication in 1981, Joy Kogawa's Obasan has assumed an important place in Canadian literature and in the broadly-defined, Asian-American literary canon. Reviewers immediately heralded the novel for its poetic force and its moving portrayal of an often-ignored aspect of Canadian and American history. Since then, critics have expanded upon this initial commentary to examine more closely the themes and images in Kogawa's work. Critical attention has focused on the difficulties and ambiguities of what is, in more ways than one, a challenging novel. The complexity of Obasan's plot, the intensity of its imagery, and the quiet bitterness of its protest challenge readers to wrestle with language and meaning in much the same way that Naomi must struggle to understand her past and that of the larger Japanese-Canadian community. In this sense, the attention that Obasan has received from readers and critics parallels the challenges of the text: Kogawa's novel, one might say, demands to be reckoned with, intellectually as well as emotionally.
Other research has devoted to unveiling the origins and the development of their stereotyping and put them among the historical contextual frameworks (e.g., Kawai, 2003, 2005; Prasso, 2005). Research has shown that those stereotypes are not all without merits. The China doll/geisha girl stereotype, to some degree, presents us with a romanticized woman who embodies many feminine characteristics that are/ were valued and praised. The evolving stereotype of the Asian martial arts mistress features women power, which might have the potentials to free women from the gendered binary of proper femininity and masculinity. Nevertheless, the Western media cultural industry adopts several gender and race policing strategies so as to preserve patriarchy and White supremacy, obscuring the Asian women and diminishing the positive associations those images can possibly imply. The following section critically analyzes two cases, The Memoirs of a Geisha and Nikita, that I consider to typify the stereotypical depictions of Asian women as either the submissive, feminine geisha girl or as a powerful yet threatening martial arts lady. I also seek to examine
Tennessee Williams, an American playwright wrote many delightful plays that contain much detail and thought. The Night of the Iguana is a great example of a play that captures the symbolism of a story of an iguana that is captured and tied down close to a hotel. The iguana was captured by two employees of the hotel, Pedro and Pancho. It depicted the iguana “trying to go on past the end of its goddam rope.” This would mean that as a symbol of fate, there would be many characters in the play that are tied down to their individual struggles and are later let go and relieved of their struggles once the iguana is set free.
Major League Baseball (MLB), in the past, was considered to be America’s pastime. While some people debate MLB still is America’s pastime, others argue that it is the 21st century and other sports have gained popularity. Regardless of where MLB ranks in popularity its impact off of the field has gained popularity. In the past 30 years MLB community involvement has emerged and taken off as an essential function of all 30 major league clubs. MLB has been around for well over 100 years. It has been a staple of history, when looking back on the events of American history; MLB has been a part of a lot of the defining moments. When WWI came about MLB shut down so the MLB players could go fight the war. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier that
The Heian period(794-1185), the so-called golden age of Japanese culture, produced some of the finest works of Japanese literature.1 The most well known work from this period, the Genji Monogatari, is considered to be the “oldest novel still recognized today as a major masterpiece.”2 It can also be said that the Genji Monogatari is proof of the ingenuity of the Japanese in assimilating Chinese culture and politics. As a monogatari, a style of narrative with poems interspersed within it, the characters and settings frequently allude to Chinese poems and stories. In addition to displaying the poetic prowess that the Japanese had attained by this time period, the Genji Monogatari also demonstrates how politics and gender ideals were adopted from the Chinese.
Tygiel, Jules. 2001; 2000. Past time: Baseball as history. Oxford England; New York: Oxford University Press.
In the book, “Hana's Suitcase: A True Story,” Fumiko Ishioka is one of the outstanding characters. Fumiko is the organizer of the Children's Holocaust Education Center in Tokyo, Japan and her role begins in a small museum, when she figures out that Japanese children had
Memoirs of a Geisha by Aurthor Golden and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison are two thought provoking books with a unique style of writing. Memoirs of a Geisha has a beautiful poetic grammar which captures readers imagination and brings the story to life. Morrison on the other hand uses combined voices to give varied perspectives with out resorting to authorial intrusion or preaching. Memoirs Of A Geisha and the bluest eye both contain graphic realism combined with a dramatic flair, which is the key as to why both of these books have been a great success.