Geisha: Women of Japan's Flower & Willow World

by Tina Skinner

This is the most comprehensive assembly of historic geisha images ever compiled in a book. Over 500 exquisite views - drawn from postcards produced primarily between 1900 and 1940 - illustrate the rarified world of Japan's now-extinct licensed pleasure districts. Soon after the West pried open Japan's doors in 1853, stories about Japan began to circulate wildly through Victorian societies. Geisha quickly attained folkloric status as both imagery, widely traveled stage productions, and titillating novels spread their fame, and postcards bearing their images circulated the globe. Enter a world dripping in symbolism, elevated by accomplishment. For the Westerner, it is a world of exotic misconceptions, characterized by a male fantasy of the submissive Asian beauty devoted to his pleasure. Equally exotic to the average Japanese, Geisha embody the highest level of a proud culture. Geisha are accomplished in music, letters, and the intricate art of the tea ceremony. Epitomizing feminine grace and beauty, geisha are always carefully adorned, every hair oiled into place, and every step and gesture perfectly executed. The comprehensive text introduces historical background about the talented geisha entertainers and other women who were indentured in virtual slavery within the famed and idealized "Flower and Willow World." High-class prostitutes, as well as lowly tea servers are pictured, and the life of early 20th century women in Japan is explored. The symbolic kimono, poses, and accouterments of the women photographed are explained in captioning that will help to open the eyes of many Westerners to Japanese culture, and help to debunk misconceptions regarding the status and nature of geisha. For the Japanese historian, this is the best source of original imagery ever assembled within two covers about Geisha. For anyone with even a casual interest in this utterly unique culture, this book will prove a captivating page turner. .

Genres: Japan, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published August 30, 2005

Reviews

[Praj · Rating 5 out of 5]

My fascination with Geisha enhanced with this gorgeous book illustrating the enigmatic and exquisite world of Geisha, principally in Meiji era when they were a vital part of Japanese society. The skillful and ultra-feminine stride of these alluring women is depicted amid beautifully crafted pictures in a rich layout clarifying every myth and misconceptions associated with them. I am simply enamored by these exotic creatures.

[Lady Demelza · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am fascinated with this subject and read most books I can find on the topic, but I was quite underwhelmed by this example.
If it had been a book about picture postcards of geisha, it could have been a fabulous book and I could have given it four or five stars. The collection of images is indeed impressive. But instead it tried to be a book about the whole world of the geisha, and it's not a very good one of those. It suffers terribly from lack of editing - seriously, how is it that people can spend the money on printing such a lush book and not even get a proofreader to have a look at it first?
This book seems to expect to live its life as a coffee table book, with people browsing through it and enjoying the images and just reading a few snippets now and then. The same information is repeated over and over in different chapters. If I hadn't already known that the lower lip being painted signified that the model was a maiko or apprentice geisha, I would have worked it out after the first three or four times I read it. I didn't need to read it another thirty or forty times.
Still, even in the light of these irritations one could hardly fail to notice the stunning beauty of this collection of images.