Tremors of a Geisha

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Q. What is the row about
A. She claims that the author broke an agreement not to disclose her identity; that he says she sold her virginity to the highest bidder, and that the� book represents geisha as little more than prostitutes.

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Q. Anything else
A. She says that by including an acknowledgement to her he has betrayed her trust . Geisha are expected to live by 'shuhi gimu', a code of secrecy that bars them from sharing their secrets with outsiders.

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Q. And did he promise
A. Golden says he did not, and claims that Mineko planned to start a business capitalizing on the novel's success.

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Q. Anyway, they are prostitutes, aren't they

A. No. Geisha is a disciplined art of women trained in conversation, traditional dancing and singing, the tea ceremony, flower arranging and ceremonies of Japanese hospitality.

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Q. No sex at all
A. Many geisha, did sell their virginity and often took 'danna', or sugar daddies, but they were not prostitutes. The leading character in the book - who Mineko feels many people take to be her -�sold her virginity or 'mizuage' for more than �500,000.

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Q. So who was she

A. Mineko Iwasaki was 'a queen among the geisha of Kyoto, Japan, in the 1960s and 1970s, the kind of girl, connoisseurs said, who comes along once every 100 years.'

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Q. One of the best
A. It is said that 'When she talked, powerful men listened. When she danced, corporate chairmen fell into ecstasy. When she inclined her head and fluttered her fan, men sighed with unrequited yearning.' The Government hired her on state occasions to entertain prominent guests, including the Queen, and President Ford.

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Q. Is it well-paid
A. Yes, but it can also involve years of hardship. At the height of her� career Mineko earned more than �2 million a year, entertaining as many as�ten customers simultaneously at �700 an hour.

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Q. How did she become a geisha
A. The 11th child of a struggling artist, her family could not afford to keep her, and she was removed from home at the age of four. She began dance training at the age of�six and moved into a geisha cooperative, when she was eight.

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Q. Do Geisha still exist
A. Very much so, but on�nothing like the scale of years past. The number has dwindled from around 80,000 in the 1920s to just 8,000 today.

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Q. Back to the row:�didn't she talk to him at all
A. She did indeed talk to Golden. Over a number of days they talked about everything from makeup to kimonos to geisha training. Friends have accused her of giving away trade secrets and providing clues to the possible identity of her most famous clients.

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Q. What does she do now
A. Lives an ordinary life (multi-million dollar lawsuits aside) with her artist husband Jinichiro.

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Q. Any more storms on the horizon

A. Just the Steven Spielberg film of the book,�due next year.

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