Memoirs of a Geisha

Sayuri continues to entertain the Minister, and, as a result, sees the Chairman more frequently than ever. Observing him, she finds his frown captivating, as it indicates that he thinks about things deeply. She is delighted when she has the opportunity to dance for him at the teahouse, and she seeks to add feeling to the dance by imagining the saddest thing she can think of; namely, that she is dancing for Nobu. She also thinks about Satsu, and, by the end, she is almost overwhelmed by grief. She is surprised to see that the Chairman’s eyes appear heavy with tears, and the Chairman subsequently excuses himself, saying that he feels unwell. 

Sayuri is aware that someone with common sense would probably give up on dreams of the Chairman. Still, in the aftermath of the war, many people believe that Japan can rise from its bed of crushed hopes. Sayuri thus reasons that, if such a thing is possible for an entire country, it should be possible for her.

In June, Sayuri’s presence is again requested at the teahouse, where she meets Nobu and Sato. Sayuri notices that the atmosphere seems strained, and, once the Minister has departed, she asks what is going on. Nobu explains that the Minister has inquired about becoming her danna and that he himself had no choice but to support the bid, given all that Sato had done for Iwamura Electric. The Minister ultimately could not afford to pursue his aim, but he had inquired whether he could at least spend a night with Sayuri. This had made Nobu angry, and he said that he would ask Sayuri no such thing.

Nobu is still in a bad temper and asks what Sayuri would say were he to make a proposal on the Minister’s behalf. She replies that she could not turn this down lightly given all that Nobu has done for her. Nobu is annoyed and says that, if she is the kind of woman who would do such a thing, she should leave immediately. Perceiving the intensity of his anger, she affirms that she would never consent.

Nobu now tells Sayuri that it is time to bring out the piece of rubble that he had given her. When she does so, he says that he does not have enough money to replace it with a jewel but that “things are possible now that weren't possible before” (447). In short, he intends to announce himself as her danna.

Sayuri tries to stop thinking about the Chairman during the following weeks, but this is no easy task. She is poised for Nobu to make his announcement, and, at the end of June, she sees a newspaper article titled “Iwamura Electric Secures Financing from Mitsubishi Bank.” With the company’s fortunes having turned around, the announcement seems imminent and Mother is pleased. Mother also says that she has received a telephone call from Iwamura Electric, requesting the presence of Sayuri—along with Mameha and Pumpkin—during a trip to the island of Amami.

On the plane journey to Amami, Sayuri is nervous about the prospect of a future with Nobu, and she feels that he does not understand her as well as he imagines. She also wonders how he would have acted if he had been the one who had found her crying when she was a child. She believes that he would have walked past her, and she speculates that her life would have been easier as a result. Instead, she yearns for the Chairman. 

As she looks out of the window, she sees the propeller decorated with the symbols found on American warplanes. It seems peculiar to her that Japan and America had fought a brutal war not so long ago but had now reconciled. She has likewise managed to give up her past, yet she cannot bring herself to give up on her future.  

Unable to accept a future with Nobu, Sayuri starts thinking about the one thing she can do to put him off: give herself to the Minister. She does not like the idea of hurting Nobu, and, ordinarily, she would not consider such schemes. In this case, however, she is desperate. She consequently starts formulating the details of her plan, which involves Nobu catching her in a rendezvous with the Minister.

After arriving at the island, the guests bathe in the hot-springs of the inn where they are saying. Sayuri remarks that it may seem surprising that men and women bathe together; likewise, that they sleep in the same room. However, she says that geisha often do this kind of thing with their best customers and it is not seen as inappropriate in itself, though, of course, people can sometimes engage in inappropriate behavior. 

When Sayuri sees the extent of Nobu’s scarring, she feels guilty about what she is planning. As she is aware, he will think that she has acted in this way purely because of his appearance. 

The following afternoon, Sayuri sees a wooden building in the street, and, when she enters it, she visualizes putting her plan into effect. Later, as they are walking together, Sayuri’s sense that Nobu does not understand her is confirmed. For instance, he says that this is the farthest that she has ever been from home, which he refers to as Kyoto, failing to understand that she still does not regard Kyoto as her real home; that is, the place where she had been raised. She decides to go ahead with her plan. 

Sayuri enlists Pumpkin’s help to make sure that Nobu catches her with the Minister at the right time and place. She does not reveal the details, but she gives Pumpkin instructions and impresses upon her the importance of carrying them out correctly. Pumpkin responds, “So it's time for a favor from Pumpkin again, is it?” (460), but she walks away without explaining the full meaning behind this statement. 

Sayuri subsequently leads the Minister to the wooden building and tells him that, though he cannot be her danna, there is no reason why they cannot enjoy a one-off tryst. As he lies upon her, she is reminded of her mizuage and her instinct is to push him away. Still, imagining Nobu as her danna helps her to fight this instinct. 

Sayuri then hears a noise from outside and turns to see Pumpkin—and the Chairman.

Sayuri is dazed by what has happened, and, the next thing she knows, she is back at the inn. It is only later that she learns that she returned to the inn claiming to feel unwell, and the proprietor had gone to fetch Mameha, who seemed to accept this story.

Sayuri sees Pumpkin and half-expects her to be apologetic; in fact, she appears venomous. She reveals that she has felt deep resentment towards Sayuri since Mother adopted Sayuri rather than herself. She was fully aware of Sayuri’s feelings for the Chairman, and her deviation from the plan was a deliberate act of betrayal.

That evening, Sayuri wanders out onto the nearby cliffs in a state of emotional torment. She contemplates letting the Chairman’s handkerchief be whisked away by the wind, but she cannot bring herself to abandon it. Even if she can never be with the Chairman, she regards the handkerchief as a memento.  

After three days back in Gion, Sayuri receives word that Iwamura Electric has requested her presence at the Ichiriki teahouse. She anticipates that Nobu will announce himself as her danna, and she thinks back to Mameha’s statement that one becomes a geisha out of necessity, rather than choice. She also wonders what would have happened had her mother lived: would she herself be a wife and mother, living in Yoroido and regarding Kyoto as a faraway place?

At the teahouse, Sayuri is surprised when the Chairman touches her shoulder and says that Nobu will not be joining them. He then takes out a scroll featuring scenes of the Imperial court, pointing to the figure of a woman with blue-gray eyes. This woman, he reveals, is why he bought the scroll.

The Chairman says that he is not looking for an apology, and he begins telling her about a young girl he once met on his way to the theater. Sayuri subsequently reveals the handkerchief she has kept ever since then, saying that she has spent years wondering if he had recognized her. He is shocked, as he likewise wondered if she recognized him.

The Chairman goes on to reveal that he asked Mameha to take Sayuri under her wing, and Sayuri now realizes that Mameha had not been driven solely by her vendetta against Hatsumomo. Sayuri tells the Chairman that she wishes he had told her these things earlier, but he says that he felt a strong sense of loyalty to Nobu and was conscious that he had suffered considerably throughout his life. Nobu had also done a great deal for Iwamura Electric. Upon observing the affection that Nobu felt for Sayuri, the Chairman resolved to conceal his own feelings though his concern for Sayuri’s welfare remained undiminished.

After the incident with the Minister on Amami, the Chairman had asked Pumpkin what was going on, and she admitted that Sayuri had intended the spectacle for Nobu. The Chairman consequently asks Sayuri why she formulated this plan, and she admits that her actions were motivated by her feelings for him. 

The Chairman then kisses her, and she finds this kiss—the first real kiss she has experienced—more intimate than anything she has ever known. She is surprised, however, as he had been speaking of his loyalty to Nobu. He replies that he had seen a desperate look in her eyes the day when he found her with the Minister, and this was the same look that had struck him when they first met. He therefore felt that he had to rescue her. He had told Nobu about what he had seen, and Nobu gave her up. The Chairman concludes that “if he couldn't forgive you for what you'd done, it was clear to me he was never truly your destiny” (480). 

It is now forty years later, and Sayuri looks back on that evening with the Chairman as the point at which her life began anew. In her innocence, she had imagined that life would be perfect as his mistress, but other men were envious of the Chairman’s position as her danna: his choice was to hide her away or damage his friendships. It was therefore deemed unwise for Sayuri to remain in Gion, and the Chairman worked out a financial arrangement with Mother enabling Sayuri to end her career as a geisha. Sayuri continued to meet up with Mameha in subsequent years, but she gradually abandoned any hope of being forgiven by Nobu.

As she had only become a geisha to gain the Chairman’s affections, one might suppose that she would have been glad to leave that life behind. Still, she built up many strong friendships during those years, and she still feels a pang of envy when she remembers the sense of promise and excitement associated with being a geisha. She remarks, however, that the number of geisha in Gion is now much lower that it was when she first arrived there, and that her former okiya was torn down when Mother died a few years ago. 

When Sayuri accompanied the Chairman on a trip to the United States, she saw true prosperity for the first time. This gave her the sense that anything is possible, and, with the Chairman spending more and more time in this country, she made her home in New York with their son (whose existence had to be kept secret) and set up a teahouse. 

As a younger woman, Sayuri believed that passion would fade with age, yet this never proved true of her relationship with the Chairman. She feared that she would fall apart when he died, yet, when it happened, she realized that he was leaving her “at the end of his long life just as naturally as the leaves fall from the trees” (492).

Having narrated her story, Sayuri feels as though she has lived her life over again. She felt displaced when Mr. Tanaka first tore her away from her family, but, since then, she has come to realize that life is impermanent and that all struggles and triumphs ultimately become a blur. She has no conclusion about what guides human beings in life; all she knows is that she “fell toward the Chairman just as a stone must fall toward the earth” (492).