Disclaimer: Ngoc Chau does not own Memoirs Of A Geisha


I had become a geisha long after the war was over. I lived in the okiya in Kyoto with my younger sister, who had become the aoitori at the tender age of 6.

But, I did not live in Kyoto all my life, one would never think that this young geisha had been a poor farmer girl. I had never been the most prettiest or refined when I was young, but considering what I had to do in my life, you would never know.

It was as soon as my new life started, I started to keep a journal.

This is my story.

The journal of a Maiko.


A rolling cart pulled 2 young girls into the Gion District. They were pushed out into the wet snow in their clogs which were ripping at the straps already. Their ragged clothing was splashed on with dirty snow. The driver pulled them out roughly by their wrists and dragged them inside a small building.


They were marched out to a room with many women looking at them.

They brought out the first one, the oldest. She had long black hair that covered most of her face. She had already entered teen and was a fair beauty. They looked at this girl's face and said in disgust, "She's pretty, but not enough to be a geisha. Bring her younger sister. Maybe she will be a better prospect." They pushed the oldest out of the way and pulled the youngest into the crowd.

They looked at her and studied all her features. She had short hazel hair and light brown eyes. Her skin was fair like the moon. Her beauty had even made the ragged dress she wore look as though it was a gown. She was still small, no more than 6 years old.

The women gave a devious smile and told the driver of the cart. "We'll take this one." The man looked at the oldest and asked, "Why don't you take this one too." he pointed to the first girl " They are both sisters and their parents requested that they be sold together. Anyway, she could always be a maid."

The women looked at her in a mean way and retorted, "Why should we take another girl? We already have more than we need." They walked off down the street with her little sister, who had no idea what was going on, and in no more than a few moments later, another set of women came to look at the eldest girl.

This set of women looked quite prosperous, but the kimonos they wore looked different from the other group. They had their obis in the back and an air of dignity and purity surrounded them. These women had their obis in the front and looked...sleazy.

But still, they had a more laid-back look in their eyes.

They had her step into a seperate room and strip off all her clothes to see if she was still healthy and still had her virginity. 'What are they doing this for?' The young girl questioned harshly in her mind.
After they were done, they put her clothes back on and went back out to the other room.

They told the driver their desicion to buy the young girl and gave him a check. "We'll take her. She should be a nice feature. Still so young, the costumers should like that."

The young girl already had a bad feeling from how the women looked. They had pretty silk kimonos on like the other women, but their obis in the front.
It was clear, she had always heard her mother say this.
These women were all courtesans, prostitutes.

And now she had been sold to a brothel, also known as A House of Pleasure.


When she arrived in the large house, she saw men, old and young, coming out of rooms with sake on their breaths and the smell of perfume and sweat on their skin. She heard young girls crying and screaming, just hoping that the costumer of their nightmare wouldn't come back.

Her parents had left the world to send her to hell.

All she could do now was hope for the best. Her buyers dropped her off in room filled with trunks of clothing and boxes on shelves and told her to put on a kimono. She did, but she didn't want to do it.

She hid inside one of the trunks. 'It's better if I die.' She thought to herself as she hid in tears and fear. 'Why did they curse me like that. I wish I was never born.'
She just lied there, crouched in a trunk, crying. Just hoping this was all some sort of dream.

She closed her eyes and slept. She didn't know for how long, but it seemed like a long time. She must've stayed hidden in there for hours. She heard one of the courtesans coming in. "Yoo-hoo! Where are you, little one? Mother wants you to eat now."

She still stayed hidden.
It could've been a trick.

She looked up from the opening of the trunk, only to be greeted by a face of an angel. She stood up immediately and continued to stare.

She was just so beautiful. Her face was white, but not from make-up. She looked pale in a sort of healthy way. Her hair was still tied up but looked ruffled. Her lips were deep red and her cheeks were rosy. The young courtesen outstretched her hand and said sweetly, "Aren't you hungry now? Everyone is waiting for you."

The young girl grabbed the woman's hand and crawled out. She held on tightly and walked over to the kitchen with the young woman. The young woman gave a small smile and said, "My name is Shiyoka. What is your name, little one?"

The young girl looked like she was trying to remember what her name could possibly be.

"My name is Kiyoko."


The 2 walked to the kitchen room and Kiyoko was surprised to see a man with his pants down. She hid behind Shiyoka and asked "Why isn't that man wearing any britches? Is he too poor?" Shiyoka looked at the young girl who was hiding behind her silk kimono.

"No, he is not poor. This is how we must get into the kitchen to eat. You don't have to worry, just close your eyes when I kneel in front of him and don't open them until I tell you to." Shiyoka told her.
The little girl nodded and looked ahead, she saw the other courtesans kneeling in front of him and their heads would bob up and down.

When it was her new friend's turn to kneel in front of the man at the door, she looked away and closed her eyes. The wait felt longer for her friend than it did for the other women, finally she felt a tap on her shoulder and opened her eyes. She saw that Shiyoka's red lipstick was more faded than it was before and she looked disgusted, like she had eaten moldy fruit.

Shiyoka took Kiyoko's hand and led her into the kitchen. Dinner was certainly extravagant...


The days were quite blissful, if one didn't think about my situation then.
I was protected by my older sister, Shiyoka, in the house. She wasn't my real sister but we treated each other like sisters. When the patrons came, she would put me into hiding, at first I had questioned her kindness.

But later on, I had learned that she had a little sister with the same name as I did and she, too, was sold into a House Of Pleasure. Although they had been separated by distance, they were still able to keep in touch. It was only a few years after, when her little sister was 15, she had died from one of the diseases she caught from her patrons.

I believed that she wanted to save me from the same fate.

However, my luck had ended.


"I can't believe Nee-san had to leave, why couldn't she stay here?" Kiyoko asked one of the courtesans who was looking intently at her reflection in the mirror.
The courtesan looked back at her and put her hand out "Her client wanted her at his place. He couldn't take it if his wife hired another investigator to follow him to the brothel. Can you pass me the pin over there?"

Kiyoko stood up and picked up a sakura pin and ran back to the courtesan. She looked at the pin and demanded back, "Not this one, it's the wisteria one!" Kiyoko ran right back to the box and picked up a violet wisteria hair pin. The courtesan slid it into her ornamented hairstyle and stepped up with a small perfumed box under her sleeve.

She stepped out of the room with a young virgin girl following after her. She trailed after the walking courtesan to the front of the house. The courtesan sat in a row with other women and Kiyoko sat right beside her, talking about what had happened in the house a few days ago involving a rat and the servant boys.

Before she even realized what Shiyoka had always warned her about, the curtain opened, revealing an assortment of leering men.

Kiyoko had always hid when this time came with Shiyoka around. This time she had forgotten the drill. She tried to get up to run away, but another woman who was watching the young girl squirm held onto her shoulders, not letting her go. "Don't even try to run. It's time you earn your keep." The woman sneered under her breath.

Tears started to run and a lech had such a fetish for young girls. He walked up to the house mother and pointed at her, "That one," he said in a happy tone, "The little one in the yukata." The house mother told the man to go ahead to a room and wait for the young girl to come. The man eagerly nodded and went off to get ready.

Kiyoko looked around in a nervous sweat, this was certainly going to be bad. 'What have I gotten myself into? What do I do? Where's Shiyoka?' All these questions screeched in Kiyoko's mind.


This was her first time wearing a kimono, but she certainly didn't feel happy. While all of the other 'sisters' helped her get dressed, she heard one of them joke "Why should she get dressed up when it's all going to come off in a few minutes anyway?"

She took a look into the mirror and was shocked and amazed to see how she looked. She was exactly like her father had always told her. She was a canvas, all she needed was a little paint to make herself look a little nicer. Her mother had always scolded her father for saying that to her.

She walked with as much poise as she could, seeing all the other girls and learning from them. She felt proud in a strange way when she walked down the halls and all of the male patron gazed at her with such a look in their eyes. Then she remembered that these men were scum.

So she shot them the coldest glare she could, but it only made things worse. She could hear them running towards the house mother.

Could things go even more horribly wrong?!


She arrived in the room. Their wasn't anything there really, except for a soft bed and a few bottles of sake. She saw the man was actually more handsome up close. He had a few wrinkles, but if he had been much younger, she would've considered him handsome.

He sat on the bed, with a thin robe on and he motioned her over to the bed. Her back was at the door, her hands on the handle.

She shook her head and stayed close to the door, ready to run if she had to. He stood up and walked towards her. It looked like he was trying to keep his cool, but walking slowly didn't do anything that much to hide his libido.

The cold sweat on his brow and the tent rising in his legs already told more than Kiyoko wanted to know. He wrapped his fingers in her hair and undid the most of her hairdo. Whatever knot he came to. He would just stroke over it looking for another pin that might have been holding her long hair up.

When he finished as much as he could, he brought himself closer. Kiyoko closed her legs even tighter, for she feared that she would probably wet her pants from fear if she didn't. The man brought his nose to the crook of her kimono and inhaled.

Just from the act, she had never felt so disgusted with man.
She tried to push him away, but he was stronger than she thought.

"Stop!!" she screamed.

She pushed against the door and ran into the hallways. The other girls were watching but none didn't do anything to stop it. She screamed out as she ran, "Where's Shiyoka?!" Some answers came at her.

"She's coming!"
"Just do your job!"
"She's still working!"

Everybody just watched. She ran towards the door, swinging her arms all around. The man who was still after her held onto her kimono obi and tried to pull her away. All of a sudden, an arm slapped the man away. Kiyoko fell to the ground, her head crashed against the doorway.

She saw her one savior, Shiyoka.

Shiyoka stood tall and fearsome. She was practically putting her life in danger just from protecting her, but she went even farther. She grabbed Kiyoko's hand and took her into their room. She took all the ornaments off and the other outer kimonos till all there was, was a thin cotton dress to sleep in.

She made sure the door was locked and she wrapped the futon sheets around Kiyoko. "What were you thinking?! Do you want to be raped? Why weren't you hiding?!" It looked like she was going to slap her but she just hugged her and kept sobbing "Thank Kami you're just fine! Everybody was telling me that this was your first costumer..."

A sudden knocking came at the door, the 2 females feared that it was the head of the House. She would punish them both for interfering and not doing their jobs.

But the door knocked and a little voice came from the other side "Kiyo-neesan!" Kiyoko just stopped and stood up. "That's my sister." she kept saying. She walked over to the sliding door and opened it.

There was her little sister, all happy and clad in a fine kimono. "You're coming home!" her little sister squealed. Everybody was surprised. Except for the head of the House and the other women who were accompanying the little girl.


What could be happening next for Kiyoko? Please review.