Geisha in Rivalry

by Kafū Nagai, Kurt Meissner (Translator), Ralph Friedrich (Translator)

Geisha in Rivalry, first published in 1918, is set against the backdrop of Tokyo's Shimbashi geisha district. The story of three geisha, imperious Rikiji, gaudy Kikuchiyo, and the nalve heroine Komayo, Geisha in Rivalry follows them in their search for a place in a world that offers no easy route of escape from their profession. With a full cast of vivid characters playing out their dramas of illicit love, shady intrigue and unrelenting rivalry, Geisha in Rivalry is the sordid but fascinating tale of Komayo, her lovers, and the women who conspire to steal them from her.

Genres: Japan, Japanese Literature, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classics, Asia, Literature

206 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1917

About the author

Kafū Nagai (永井 荷風 Nagai Kafū, December 3, 1879 - April 30, 1959) is the pen name of Japanese author, playwright, essayist, and diarist Nagai Sōkichi (永井 壮吉). His works are noted for their depictions of life in early 20th-century Tokyo, especially among geisha, prostitutes, cabaret dancers, and other denizens of the city's lively entertainment districts.

(from Wikipedia)

Variation of names of the same author:

永井荷风

Kafū Nagai

永井 荷風

永井荷風

Reviews

[AiK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Мне этот роман понравился, понравился атмосферностью, эстетикой японской природы, сочувствием к женской участи. Отчасти этот роман напоминает «Яму» Куприна, когда девушки соперничают между собой, но есть и взаимовыручка. Кафу осознает глубину трагизма участи гейши, обслуживающей у «изголовья», когда ей за день приходится иметь сношения с несколькими мужчинами. Действие происходит в начала двадцатого века, в эпоху «электричества и телефонов», но отношения глубоко патриархальны, а гейши фактически бесправны. Наиболее удачливые из них могут быть выкуплены женихом и выйдут замуж. Но большинству придется позаботиться о своей судьбе самой. «Комаё была гейшей и жизнь знала плохо» и этим сказано все. Гейши, как изнеженные цветы в оранжерее, плохо приспособлены к суровой жизни. Они умеют вести разговор, встречать гостей, следить за собой, но они не умеют делать ничего, что пригодится в жизни. Комаё содержит любовника-актера, а тот предпочитает ей более выгодную партию, слушаясь свою матушку. Комаё и другие гейши знают одно – им нужно копить деньги, чтобы суметь открыть свое маленькое дело. Но, удается это не всем. Финал выглядит нереалистичным – хозяйка умирает от удара, и ее муж, Годзан почему-то решает, что он уже стар, чтобы заниматься делами, но сможет прокормиться своим языком (не очень понятно, что это означает), и распоряжается унаследованной собственностью после смерти Дзюкити в пользу Комаё, узнав, что ее бросил жених и она совсем одна после смерти своих родителей. Правда, он не отдает «Китайский Мискант» в дар, а делает предложение об аренде с последующим выкупом с неопределённым сроком - «когда сможешь». В общем, Комаё после своих мытарств, становится хозяйкой дела. Это все выглядит сказочным, но, видимо, Кафу испытывает нежные чувства к своей героине и хочет завершить роман счастливо. Обычно, я такие фантастические хэппи-энды не люблю, но Кафу меня очаровал.

[Tessa Nadir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nagai Kafu este un important eseist, prozator si dramaturg din prima jumatate a secolului XX. A calatorit mult in America si Franta si in urma acestor experiente a scris "Amerika monogatari" (Povestiri americane) si "Furansu monogatari" (Povestiri franceze). Dezamagit de occidentalizarea Japoniei in materie de arta si traditie autorul a cautat sa redescopere cultura si trecutul orasului Tokyo. In acest sens a scris cartea de fata, care are un iz autentic traditional, al perioadelor apuse, nepangarite de influenta si cultura straina.
"Udekurabe" prezinta o bucatica din viata unei gheise asa cum traia ea, de dimineata pana seara, inconjurata de barbatii si intrigile care se teseau la ceainarii, la teatre, la casele de gheise si de ce nu, seara tarziu in asternuturi.
Dupa moartea sotului ei, tanara Komayo, fortata de imprejurarile financiare este nevoita sa se intoarca la vechea ei meserie de gheisa. Pentru a supravietui in aceasta lume a fetelor ambitioase si gratioase ea cauta sa-si gaseasca sustinatori influenti. Asa il intalneste pe Yoshioka, un fost client, casatorit si bogat, care doreste sa-i devina patron. Acest lucru insemna ca el ii platea datoriile catre casa de gheise si se angaja sa o intretina.
Komayo insa, se indragosteste de un tanar actor chipes si de succes si in curand, va trebui sa impace interesele financiare, meseria si strigatul inimii sale. Lucru destul de greu chiar si pentru o gheisa care detinea arta seductiei si diplomatiei.
Romanul mi-a placut mult, mai ales ca ne prezinta activitatile private si publice ale unei gheise, putand astfel sa aflam cum decurgea o zi din viata ei. Ne sunt povestite detalii privind cum se machia, cum isi realiza coafura complicata, cum era ajutata sa se imbaieze si sa se imbrace, cum era sunata de la casele de ceai si i se cerea prezenta etc.
In ceea ce priveste relatiile cu clientii gheisa era solicitata sa intretina atmosfera si conversatia, sa toarne sake sau ceai si sa amuze oaspetii. Niciodata nu era singura, ci asistata de alte gheise sau ucenice si conversatiile se axau pe povesti picante ori amuzante despre alte gheise, despre culisele din teatru iar cele mai indraznete aminteau despre intamplari din asternut. La ora 11 programul se termina si gheisa se intorcea acasa daca nu era solicitata pentru mai mult, lucru rar intalnit si numai daca ea consimtea. Iata deci ca femeile erau platite pentru inteligenta si hazul conversatiei lor in primul rand. :)
Mi-a placut si de Nanso Kurayama, senseiul pe care il consider alter-ego-ul autorului si care merge la casa de gheise si prin diferite locuri din oras pentru a culege povestiri si a observa vechi traditii de alta data din era imparatilor si pe care le nota spre a fi publicate.
Si pentru ca romanul este despre o gheisa consider ca trebuie sa facem si o mica descriere a felului in care aceasta arata: "Avea parul aranjat in stilul shimada, prins cu un pieptene argintat si un ac de par de jad, si se schimbase intr-un kimono de crep usor, cu un model minunat. [...] Obi-ul era tot din crep, in stilul traditional Kaga, captusit cu satin negru, si era prins cu un snur albastru-deschis care iesea in evidenta. Cordonul purtat peste Obi era de un verde intens si impodobit in fata cu perla mare."
Trebuie sa mentionez si faptul ca gheisele erau preferate putin mai plinute, cu pielea moale si frageda, de o albeata ca de nea si neaparat isi pudrau fata cu pudra de orez si aveau buzele rosii.
In incheiere, m-am bucurat foarte mult ca romanul are un happy-end satisfacator pentru personajul principal, in ciuda deceptiilor si neajunsurilor de care sufera si atasez cateva citate care ne releva amanunte interesante din viata colorata a gheiselor:
"Asta-i adevarul secret al artei, faptul ca ea exista numai in intalnirea dintre mintea artistului si a spectatorului."
"Tineri sau batrani, toti murim si nimic nu e mai greu de inteles decat nesiguranta vietii."
"O noapte de dragoste trece repede, in schimb una de chin dureaza o vesnicie."
"Cu toate astea, o gheisa n-ar fi folosit niciodata strategia politicienilor de a crea probleme numai pentru a obtine avantaje. Poate ca, intr-un sens, gheisele erau mai demne decat politicienii."
"[...] dar sa stii ca o femeie care nu e gata sa se supuna soacrei n-o sa se supuna nici sotului."
"Cand spui adevaruri neplacute nu numai ca-i ranesti pe oameni, dar iti poti atrage chiar antipatia lor."

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you're in Taisho period Shimbashi, it seems that revenge is a dish best served ... surreptitiously.

Bits I liked (including spoilers):
"Kikuchiyo, careful not to disturb her coiffure, indulged herself in an enormous and unattractive yawn."

"If, for example, she happened to mention the Kabukiza, it was to tell a story about a customer who had been up to something naughty in a front box while Omodakaya was playing 'Kanjincho', disrupting an entire act. (According to her, this sort of thing has always taken place, and theater people actually approve of it because they think it brings good luck.)"

"'And in the end, he didn't even warn me - just some violent twitching and an ugly grunt, and there it was. I was just opening my eyes, wondering what to do with the contents of my mouth, when a woman's voice began screeching right in my ear. The three of us looked at each other, and that's when I first realized he was a total stranger and not my client. Ugh! The woman who'd just joined us in the bath was his wife, and it turned out they were newlyweds.'"

"the master of a geisha house generally should be a dilettante whose refined tastes were an obstacle to any chance of material success and who ran his house as a kind of hobby."

[Melanti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This might not be a great book for someone who doesn't know much about geisha. Nagai's intended audience would have had at least a basic understanding and he doesn't spend any time explaining anything.

For instance, it portrays sex with a danno as just part of the job, but looks down at other geisha who have sex more indiscriminately. There's a lot of obsession with appearances and reputation, since no one wants to be thought of as one of those geisha. So, if I were going into it with no concept of danno, I'd probably be wondering why one's acceptable but the other isn't.

It has just as much sex and scheming in it as Memoirs of a Geisha, if not more, but it's more matter-of-fact instead of that voyeuristic/fetishistic feel I got from Golden's book.

There's also a lot of worry about how Japanese culture is starting to become more Westernized and how people are starting to go see movies, etc, rather than traditional Japanese art forms - including the geisha. So, even back in 1917, there was an awareness that the geisha life style was endangered.

It's a pretty interesting read, and my first real foray into Japanese classics. I've read a couple of contemporary Japanese books, but no older ones.

[Charlie Canning · Rating 5 out of 5]

A significant, new translation restoring the missing passages from Kafu's commercial edition of 1918

Although the novelist Nagai Kafu is not as well known as Kawabata, Mishima, or Tanizaki; Kafu certainly has his charms. Of the three, he is probably closest to Tanizaki. Both spent long periods of their lives first embracing than rejecting Westernization. Both immersed themselves in what they could find of traditional Japanese culture among all the borrowed and hybrid forms once things turned ugly or just plain dull. For Kafu, it was the demimonde of Tokyo and the area around the Sumida River in the city's eastern district.

Kafu's Rivalry (Udekurabe) was first serialized in the literary magazine Bunmei in 1916-1917. Following serial publication, the manuscript was published as a book in a private and then a commercial edition. Stephen Snyder's translation is based on the first private edition restored in Iwanami Shoten's Complete Works of 1956: "I decided to retranslate Udekurabe partly because the 1963 translation by Kurt Meissner and Ralph Friedrich is based on the 1918 commercial edition and thus lacks passages, some harrowing and others hilarious, that are vital to our understanding the geisha's experience and Kafu's views of the exploitation and suffering that haunted the lives of women in this profession."

The "harrowing" part is that being a geisha involved sex for money. As Snyder notes in his Introduction, while the geisha called to entertain at a machiai or teahouse were not usually expected to sleep with their customers, those who accepted a sponsor or danna certainly were. In the third chapter of the novel, the heroine Komayo is summoned to meet her former patron Yoshioka after an interval of seven years. The obligatory romantic part of the exchange is rather short:

"'Komayo. It's been seven years.'
`I'd die if you left me again,' she sighed. Then knowing what was in store, she quickly closed her eyes to hide her discomfort.
They said nothing more. The man's face grew bright red as if he were drunk, and the veins in his arms and his neck stood out."

What is peculiar about Kafu's writing, and what sets him apart from most of his contemporaries, is the mix of styles. While much of Rivalry is nineteenth century in both treatment and tone, the narrative is peppered with rather frank, even brutal, assessments of character and scene (namagusai in Japanese) that give it a modernist feel. In the chapter "Welcoming Fires", we meet what at first appear to be two very sympathetic characters of the quarter, Gozan, the rakugo storyteller and proprietor of the Obanaya, and Kurayama, the novelist. Kafu writes of their histories and of their professions in unsparing detail. We soon learn, however, what the author really thinks of them: "The reactionary old storyteller and the outdated novelist wet their throats with cold, bitter tea and were about to go on with their flights of fancy when the reed screen parted, and Jukichi, the mistress of the Obanaya, entered the room."

The "rivalry" of the title comes from the machinations of intrigue and plot associated with securing, maintaining, or furthering one's standing in the world of the pleasure quarter. For the geisha of Rivalry, the contest is about enticing the most desirable patrons or lovers - rich businessmen like Yoshioka or handsome actors like Segawa. For the men, it is about being with the most desirable and accomplished geisha. Loss of standing for either women or men in the eyes of the community is not suffered lightly and revenge is both calculating and fierce.

Aside from the thorough rendering of the geisha Komayo and her plight, the novel's principal strength is in its description of the vanishing Edo demimonde. It was almost as if Kafu wanted to get it down on paper before it disappeared. In Chapter 12: "Rain on an Autumn Night," (also translated by the late Edward Seidensticker in his Kafu, the Scribbler), the writer Kurayama Nanso, muses: "No matter how Westernized customs and manners might have become, as long as one could hear the bells on a brief summer night or see the stream of the Milky Way on an evening in autumn, as long as the trees and plants specific to each region remained, then, he was sure, sorrow would remain at the heart of relations between men and women, just as the old ballads said."

Stephen Snyder's new translation is significant in that it restores the missing passages from Kafu's commercial edition of 1918. This means that we can now finally read the version that the Japanese have been reading since 1956. But there is something lost and something gained, whichever way you turn. Because the trysts in the Meissner and Friedrich translation are suggested rather than minutely described, there is a certain lyricism to the whole business that somehow manages to preserve the myth that geishas are purveyors of culture and not flesh. In Snyder's translation of Kafu's, Rivalry, however, this illusion is shattered. The lovemaking is predatory and salacious and the demimonde is a mean little show peopled with vulgar men and women. And in this world, the beautiful Komayo is a fish in a barrel swimming around and around trying to find the stream.

[Issendai]

I just tried to read this book in the Tuttle edition translated by Kurt Meissner and Ralph Friedrich, and my advice is: AVOID. Try the Stephen Snyder translation. Meissner and Friedrich are too faithful to the original Japanese wording, translating idioms literally and leaving in all the little filler phrases and circumlocutions that sound normal in Japanese but repetitive and grating in English. The result is a stilted mess devoid of nuance or liveliness. I used to translate Japanese for pleasure, so I understand both the linguistic quirks they were dealing with and the difficulty of cleaning up the final translation once you've been that close to the original; but if they were serious about producing a good translation, they should have put the book through one or two more rounds of literary translation to clean up the style before publishing.

[Pachy Pedia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Costumbrismo japonés en el mundo de las geishas del principios del siglo XX, una lectura muy interesante.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

No matter how much the world of the geisha is dressed up in ritual, beauty and performance, in the end of the day they are sex workers and that sad truth shows through in this book. All of the people and relationships in this story are tainted by the sex for money bargain, so that the relationships are shallow and calculated and the rivalries are as much about economics as they are about prestige.

The main geisha character, Komoya, is sympathetic because she is alone in the world, pulled into the career of a geisha because that is seemingly the only path available to her and naive in her relationships with her dannas. However, in other ways she is not a good person. She schemes to throw over her first danna. She rages when things don't go her way. And her attraction for Segawa, the actor, is almost totally materialistic. There are times when she seems to be drawn to his personality, but it is mostly about his physical beauty, the prestige that association with a famous actor will bring her in the geisha community and the bolstering of her weak sense of self worth that comes from knowing that this man is attracted to her.

Nearly all of the other characters are even worse -- not just the bad characters like Yamai and Takijiro, and the dannas - Yoshioka and Segawa, but also nearly all of the geisha come off poorly - Kikuchiyo, Rikiji and Kimiryu. Only the simple people like Hanasuke and Gozan are let off the hook a little, but even with them it is mostly all about business. I couldn't help feeling that there is an an inevitable corruption for all involved that grows out of the basic premises of geisha society.

[Meltem Sağlam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kitabın konusu ve yazarın anlatım tarzı, bana Japon yazarlar Tanizaki ve Soseki’yi anımsattı. Metindeki, bir çok ustaya selam duruş beni etkiledi. Dönüp bu ustaları incelememe ve tanımaya çalışmama vesile oldu.

Romanın kurgusu da etkileyici. Konusu sıradan bir aşk/intikam hikayesi gibi görünse de, dönemi ve dönem kültürünü aktarması açısından değerli buldum. Dipnotlar okumayı yavaşlatsa da, farklı bir dönem ve farklı bir kültüre ait olan bu metni anlamamız açısından gerekli ve başarılı.

Çeviri başarılı. Akıcı bir metin. Bir kaç yazım hatası dışında Türkçesi de iyi.

Kısa sürede okunabilen, güzel bir roman.

[Yeliz YILDIRIM · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Sae-chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The geisha world is just like any corporate world. There are new skills to learn, ladder to climb, politics to play. The problem is it involves personal feeling and relationship. So it's difficult after a hard day's of work to say "Ah, let it go. Don't take it personally."

And after all, the most compassionate person was the one who didn't get involved in personal relationship. Ironic, but true. When feeling becomes commodities, they lose their very essence. Like salt without its saltiness.

[Davvybrookbook · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this striking memorial novel to Edo geisha and kabuki culture, one will find Tokyo presented in a way far more organized than any modern-day resident or visitor. The realism and material culture, as well as the listings of artistic styles of plays, acting, poems, and song. Nagai Kafu, according to Donald Keene, was enamored with late nineteenth-century French literature. The introduction to this edition suggests he was at a time supportive of French naturalist works, then formed an anti-naturalist movement, and in this particular work, Rivalry, was concerned far more with representing a disappearing culture milieu. Kafu was a contemporary of Soseki. As such, these early twentieth-century authors provide far more neutral views of Japan than their postwar compatriots like Kawabata, Mishima, Dazai, and Tanizaki.

Rivalry is a novel that explains and makes sense of the systems of Japanese culture, and in an important way, of manners and etiquette that guide personal relationships in Shimbashi geisha quarter. The interior views, provided through shifting perspectives, tie this work strongly to European movements even though the content and manner of form lends itself to a cohesive historical moment: the last age of Edo geisha culture. The great characters included: Rikiji, Yoshioka, Komayo, Hanasuke, Segawa, “Sea Monster”, Kikuchiyo, Nanso, Yamai, Kimiryu and Gozan.

As a mirror to Kawabata’s Snow Country in terms of geisha culture, and to Dazai’s No Longer Human in displays of Asakusa leisure, Rivalry becomes a meaningful work of art, a work that is responding to currents of its time but also inspiring the next generation of artists. In the way that Tokyo existed, before its near total destroyed by American bombings, one can come to understand a world that has indeed lost more than the physical manifestations of its streets and buildings. The Asakusa cultural institutions and customs that were already under duress and stress from the Meiji Restoration (aka Westernization/American imperialism) are herein recorded. What a fascinating read!

[Israel Montoya Baquero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Increible visión la que nos ofrece Kafu acerca de los distritos de placer del Tokio de principios del siglo XX. Con base en la historia de Komayo, una geisha tokiota, Kafu aprovecha para mostrarnos los entresijos de un un mundo oculto, lleno de intrigas, conspiraciones, odios y, tambien, amores.
Si quereis leer un libro sobre geishas, hacedme caso y dadle una oportunidad a esta joya publicada por la Editorial Alba, y dejaos de las geishas occidentalizadas y banales de Michael Golden ;)

[library ghost (farheen) · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5)

[Dario Andrade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um pequeno e surpreendente livro. A guerra das gueixas, publicado entre 1916-17 traz a estória de Komayo, uma jovem e (um pouco) ingênua moça que volta a trabalhar como gueixa depois de 7 anos. Ela se afastara da profissão porque se casara com o seu benfeitor, isto é, o sujeito que pagou as dívidas que ela tinha com a casa em que ela trabalhava como gueixa. Para azar dela, porém, o marido morreu e a família dele – não muito gentilmente – a expulsa de casa. Sem conhecer ninguém no interior, volta para Tóquio, para Shimbashi, o bairro boêmio e de gueixas da cidade.
Ela se endivida novamente e se vê diante de um futuro um tanto quanto incerto. Precisa de benfeitores, sabe que está envelhecendo, precisa encontrar alguma segurança, mas hesita em relação aos proponentes que aparecem. Ao mesmo tempo, tem que lidar com a rivalidade com outras gueixas, algumas prejudicadas, involuntariamente ou não, por ela. Há, ainda, os amantes vingativos e uma plêiade de personagens que vivem ao seu redor, desde os frequentadores menos ou mais estranhos, passando pelos donos das casas de gueixas e alcançando até pessoas que de uma forma ou outra estão ligadas ao mundo boêmio de Shimbashi.
Cada capítulo traz um pequeno vislumbre desse universo. Sempre muito sutil e nem sempre com a presença de Kamayo. Às vezes, são apenas personagens que tem uma ligação muito tênue com ela, mas que de alguma forma influenciam a vida da moça. É quase como se fossem contos interligados. Há uma certa leveza (enganadora) na maneira como Kafu conta a estória de um universo em que a competição, a inveja, a vingança, a incerteza estão presentes todo o tempo e o futuro de Kamayo – e as escolhas nem sempre inteligentes feitas por ela – está sempre na corda bamba.
A cultura japonesa é algo muito diferente e nem sempre é muito compreensível o que é a gueixa, mas o livro é interessante para se entender esse mundo tão erótico, tão sedutor, mas ao mesmo tempo tão diferente e que pode ser violento e brutal à sua maneira.
Enfim, um livro belíssimo , escrito com enorme delicadeza sobre um tema que nem sempre é fácil de entender e de se lidar.

[Veronika KaoruSaionji · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very love this book. It was written in 1916 and the author, Nagai, is "japanese naturalist", but I like him. I don´t like heterosexual romance and heterosexual erotic, but by Nagai it is very cute. Heroine, Komayo, is former geisha, young widow, who return into geisha busines after her husband ´s death. She found wealthy and nice young handsome patron, who wants to marry her, and she sleeps with him, but she does not love him (but she pretends that she loves him because his money). She fells in love with young and very very beautiful female-role-actor (onnagata) /real life bishonen, I understand her love for him/ and she has love affair with him, but her patron finds it, he is jealous and he wants to punish her. He sleeps with another geisha who is very merry and happy woman (she merrily chat about sex - I must laugh by reading it and I like her, too) and he abandons her. She had another wealthy patron who is very ugly and she hates him and he knows it and enjoys her hatred - but she sleeps with him because his money, who she need for her beloved onnagata. But for her actor she was only sweet short epizode, he finds anther love, wealthier than heroine, and he abandons Komayo, too. She is desperate but nice old man, Gozan, former samurai and patron of her geisha house, after death´her wife helps her (I like Gozan very much) and she becomes mistress of geisha house. This story is very realistic but beautiful story from geisha ´s world. The sex scenes are delicate but interesting, I enjoyied them (and this is very rare thing for me, I mostly hate heterosexual erotica, the more written by male author). I understand the heroine. And I understand the other geisha, too. Nagai is great writer, he can write very realistic female characters, he understood very well women. I am grateful that I can read this sweet book. I wish it will be translated in future in the Czech language...

[Smiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars

I first read this full-length novel first published in 1918 having a secure place as his masterpiece (back cover) by an eminent Japanese author, playwright, essayist and diarist named Kafu Nagai (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaf%C5%...) depicting the life of the herione Komayo vs her rival Kikuchiyo set in Tokyo's Shimbashi geisha district. The following contents listed in 21 topics would, I think, be taken as an ideating guide and a broad overview to the reader.
- An Exquisite Thing
- The Firefly Flower
- Welcome Fire
- A Daytime Dream
- Enchantment
- Evening Glow
- Guilt
- Grand Performance
- Box Seat
- Kikuobana
- Rain On an Autumn Night
- The Way Home
- Asakusa
- At The Gishun
- Opening Day (I)
- Opening Day (II)
- Yesterday and Today
- Yasuna
- Morning Bath
- Confusion
- This and That

To continue . . .

ENDNOTE

Retrospectively, I first knew him and enjoyed reading his short story "The River Simuda" (1909) published in Modern Japanese Literature: From 1868 to Present Day (Tuttle 1972) edited by Donald Keene, followed by "The Peony Garden" (1909) in The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories (Oxford University Press 2010) edited by Theodore William Goosen and "Nude" (1950) in The Mother of Dreams: Portrayals of Women in Modern Japanese Fiction (Kodansha 1989) edited by Makoto Ueda.

[Wayward Child · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me almost a month to finish a 200 page novel and the reason is probably that it is one of the most depressing books I've ever read. So few options, such limited opportunities and I feel like I can't even blame the characters. It sounds cheesy, but I can only really blame the society of the time which offered very little to women. Usually, when a character's life goes downhill, I tend to blame them, but I can't bring myself to blame Komayo. She had to make an impossible choice, a choice between love and financial security. Not an impossible choice nowadays, but back in those times, it certainly was. I can see why she declined Yoshioka's offer to become her danna and thus take care of her financially. I can even understand why it didn't work out with Segawa, but these are tiny glimmers of hope and reason in a world filled with injustice where a woman had no choice but to go against herself and all of her beliefs, just to survive.

[Roxana Chirilă · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have absolutely no doubt that this book reflects the actual life of geishas a lot better than, say, "Memoirs of a Geisha". I learned a bit about their lives and there are a lot of details of atmosphere which are probably worth it for someone who wants to know what it was like to be a geisha at the beginning of the 20th century.

That being said: I kept getting lost in the secondary characters, and I didn't feel much for the main one, who can go around claiming to love a man in the beginning, only to choose another in the middle and end up with none at the end. Which, combined with the different plots of geishas and getting at each other's throats, would have made a good story, except somehow I felt that it... didn't.

There's something about Japanese books sometimes that makes me feel the fun is lost in translation.

[Vendedor de rápida · Rating 2 out of 5]

Novela a la europea, con algo de naturalismo, cuyos defectos quizás sean sus aspectos más interesantes. La vida de las geishas en el Tokio de principios del siglo XX y su relación con la prostitución, el mundo artístico y los negocios, ofrece un retrato curioso de la sociedad japonesa de la época, así como de la situación de las mujeres y de algunas instituciones contractuales y teatrales. Toda esta riqueza peculiar no encuentra una estructura clara, se suceden los personajes y las elipsis, y ese es su gran defecto pero también su gran virtud.

[Berna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting environment to discover, yet the story sags at certain points and leaves the reader unsatisfied at the end. Komaya earns a house for what? Nothing. Not that I want her to suffer, she was already suffering but at least she could have done something, learn something or earn something by herself.

[yuli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Öncelikle kitapta hoşuma gitmeyen birkaç duruma parmak basmak istiyorum. Kitabın gidişi bana çok kesik kesik geldi. Ana karakterin kim olduğunu anlamam uzun sürdü, gereksiz çok bilgi var ve sanki geyşa olmayı destekliyor gibi geldi. Lakin, iyi yanlarına gelirsek öncelikle ilginç bir hikayesi var. Ayrıca Japon kültürü hakkında ufkumu açtı, insan ilişkilerini gerçek bir ışıkta gösterdi ve genel olarak okuması ara sıra yorsada keyifli bir okumaydı.

[Anna Casian-Musteață · Rating 3 out of 5]

O carte bunișoară, care spune povestea unei gheișe pe nume Komayo. Mi-a plăcut faptul că în ea este descrisă viața femeilor din casele de gheișe din Japonia și problemele cu care se confruntau ele.

Merită o șansă!

[Ana Martins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muitas idas e vindas, história interesse, mas se perde um pouco no meio do livro.
Quando você acha que dará certo, a coisa da errado.
Achei que seria o tipo de livro que a protagonista se dá mal no final, mas deu tudo certo...
Ela recebeu o que precisava e não o que desejava.

[Jacklin Billings · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a comfortable read about a geisha that has returned to the business after her husband passed away and finds that not much has changed. There are still older women jealous of the role she plays in the lives of their men and younger women wanting to replace her. In addition, there are old acquaintances that want to reclaim their place in her schedule as well as new interests that capture her attention. All of these little contradictory relationships results in a tangle of emotions and loyalties that lead to a relatively happy ending, or as happy an ending as an indentured servant- even a painted up and we'll educated one- can expect.

[Elena Trocal78 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una historia bastante agridulce la de esta geisha. Bien descrito todo el mundillo pero me deja un poco fría.

[Ladyce West · Rating 4 out of 5]

Não posso me considerar conhecedora de literatura japonesa. Kawabata, Murakami, Tanizaki, Kawakami, Matsuoka, Kirino, Inoue foram os únicos escritores lidos. Uma dúzia de obras, não me faz conhecedora. Particularmente quando se trata de uma de civilização milenar, repleta de biombos culturais, sussurros de entonação e gestos estudados. Mas já li o suficiente para sentir que em "Guerra de gueixas" há uma diferença. A trama é contada com ritmo avançado, clareza de expressão, narrativa direta e descrições cândidas. Nagai Kafū economizou nas metáforas e tradicionais insinuações orientais. O resultado foi uma bela obra sobre um pequeno evento colocado num contexto franco e arrojado.

Depois de enviuvar Komayo, que havia sido gueixa, retorna à vida que tivera antes do casamento e participa da disputa por clientes para garantir boa sobrevivência no futuro. Nessa procura envolve-se com três homens e se vê no centro de uma competição com outras gueixas que, como ela, pensam em assegurar uma vida estável, nos dias em que a idade se mostrar como obstáculo. Procuram um único patrocinador. Komayo se depara, nessa competição, com uma escolha: proteção financeira sem amor ou uma paixão. Sozinha, suas escolhas determinarão o futuro. Não pode errar. Suas conquistas são objeto de ciúmes e inveja.

Grande parte do que conheço sobre Shimbashi, o bairro das gueixas em Tóquio, veio através de obras de autores ocidentais, mais ou menos fascinados com o exotismo das gueixas, dos cerimoniais nas casas de chá, do teatro kabuki. Um grande livro que alargou o meu conhecimento sobre o assunto foi do escritor inglês Kazuo Ishiguro, "Um artista do Mundo Flutuante". Mas Ishiguro escreveu também com conhecimento de segunda mão, já que passou a vida desde de os cinco anos de idade na Inglaterra. Pois, foi na obra de Nagai Kafū que vi o retrato do mundo flutuante por um escritor japonês descrito com desembaraço semelhante ao encontrado em muitas xilogravuras Ukiyo, abertamente sexuais. Em Guerra de gueixas a vida diária de Shimbashi é retratada sem romantismo, numa ostensiva rebeldia à habitual discrição sobre o assunto na terra do sol nascente.

Um dos pontos altos deste livro é o retratar das mudanças de comportamento na sociedade japonesa com a influência ocidental. A obra, lançada em 1916, é enraizada justamente nesse período de grande pujança econômica do país. Mas não faz qualquer menção aos grandes sacrifícios da população que caracterizaram a época entre o final do século XIX e a entrada do país na Segunda Guerra Mundial: as guerras contra a China e contra a Rússia. Isso só não empobrece o texto porque Nagai Kafū não se propôs a escrever um romance histórico, mas um obra de gênero. O que descobrimos são as pequenas maneiras em que a ocidentalização se dá na vida cotidiana da cidade.

"Guerra de gueixas" é considerado um clássico da literatura japonesa moderna. Tem todo jeito de ser uma obra de transição, de um período em que a estética literária de Yasunari Kawabata se desloca para a de um Haruki Murakami. Ainda que Kawabata seja mais jovem, sua obra me parece mais ligada às tradições literárias nipônicas do que a de Nagai Kafū que o precedeu. Talvez isso seja só a visão de quem lê com os olhos do ocidente. Mas sou pretensiosa ao fazer essa afirmação, consciente de meu conhecimento superficial de uma rica tradição literária. A leitura de "Guerra de gueixas" é rápida, cheia de passagens memoráveis e de interessantes observações. É leve. Tem um gosto de século XIX. Mas vale muito a pena. Devo ressaltar a bela edição da Estação Liberdade que dá gosto à leitura. Recomendo.

[Quietgirl255 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book as I love all things geisha and Japanese culture.
This was the tale of a geisha, Komayo, who has to return back to the profession after her husband, who had bought out her debt, dies. Rather than facing a lonely, boring life in the country, she returns back to Tokyo. The house she now works for is owned by an elderly couple, who have 2 sons. One of whom has unfortunately died, and the other is a no good scoundrel who has run off and is effectively disowned. There are 2 apprentice geisha, and I think 3 geisha in the house. The elderly woman who owns the house still also goes on appointments.

Soon after her return, Komayo is reunited with a lover/patron whom she knew in her previous life (its been 7 years since she left). They effectively resume their relationship. He turns his back on his current mistress and kept geisha, in order to resume his relationship with Komayo.

What isn't clear to me the in the book is how much "debt" Komayo is in. I would have thought the bulk of it was cleared when her husband bought her out. (Since that would have been the cost of her original geisha training/housing etc and that would have occurred before she started earning money the first time). Komayo's driving force is gathering patrons and earning money. She waffles and eventually refuses her reunited lover's offer of buying her out (her debt). I really didn't understand why she would refuse this. She falls in love with an actor ( which isn't necessarily frowned in in their world-she probably could have juggled both imho) and she reluctantly accepts the patronage of a rich art dealer from Yokohama ( a real unpleasant fellow).

Of course it turns into a tale of love, not loving, revenge, and saving face.

When you are reading the book you feel like you are watching actors on stage. I really didn't get a deep emotional connection to any of the characters. I liked the style of writing, but sometimes I felt like I wanted more about the kimono and the dancing and other geisha, and what Komayo thought, instead of in depth descriptions of the old abandoned house next door. I find charm in the way Japanese writing tends to describe and focus on things outside our western way of viewing things, but I wanted it be be focused more on geisha...the reason I picked up this book. The other thing that may be startling to some readers is the fact that they do not dance around the whole, geisha exchanging sexual favors with their patron/donna, or customers. You are constantly told...geisha are not prostitutes, yet this book really makes you question this. I don't know if this was because it was a male writer, if it was generally true, or if this is how it was thought to be.

So all in all I feel so-so about this book.

[Valentina Coluccelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nel mondo fluttuante dove ogni cosa muta
L’amore non cambia mai nelle sue promesse di mai cambiare.
Canzone delle geishe
(in Storia di un mondo segreto – Geisha, di Lesley Downer)

Quella di Komayo è la storia di una donna divenuta per destino geisha e per vocazione eroina di un romanzo.

Probabilmente meno conosciuta in Occidente delle più famose Sayuri (protagonista di Memoirs of a Geisha, di Arthur Golden) e Tami (Jotoku – La virtù femminile, di Harumi Setouchi), pur essendo loro contemporanea e “sorella” Komayo sembra quasi appartenere a un’altra realtà; in parte per la sua vicenda personale che si discosta dalla loro, in parte per lo stile narrativo di Nagai Kafu. L’autore infatti, ben lontano dai toni intimistici e poetici di Golden, da quelli autobiografici della Setouchi, da quelli sensuali e scabrosi dell’autore anonimo di Romanzo di una geisha, e anche da quelli didascalici e nostalgici della Downer (Geisha. Storia di un mondo segreto)*, racconta la sua storia con uno sguardo disincantato e venato da un certo realismo cinico.

La storia di Komayo inizia dove quella delle altre geishe letterarie finisce: già affrancata dal suo debito nei confronti della Okiya grazie a un generoso e innamorato danna, e da lui sposata, Komayo si ritrova dopo soli tre anni di matrimonio vedova. Sentendosi sperduta e sola nella fredda campagna della settentrionale Akita (in Hokkaido) e nell’inospitale e rigida famiglia acquisita, non trova altra strada che quella di tornare all’unica realtà che ben conosce, quella del mondo fluttuante del quartiere di Shimbashi, dove ha vissuto la sua prima giovinezza come geisha, conosciuta col nome di Komazō. Ma tornare a essere geisha dopo aver creduto di essersene lasciata alle spalle doveri, sacrifici e timori non è facile e Komayo, nonostante l’ottima accoglienza ricevuta da padroni di ochaya, sorelle geishe e clienti, non riesce a gestire bene la sua vita, i suoi affari e il suo futuro. Si ritrova infatti presto legata e vincolata a tre uomini: per familiarità all’autoritario Yoshioka, conosciuto sette anni prima, che diventa il suo danna e che intende riscattarla dall’Okiya, ma che lei tradisce; per soldi a un cliente che lei ribattezza “mostro marino”, del quale sopporta la violenza e l’orrenda presenza fisica; e infine per amore al capriccioso e superficiale onnagata Segawa, per il quale sacrifica molto e dal quale viene abbandonata e umiliata pubblicamente. Dopo questi terribili colpi e cocenti delusioni, Komayo riesce contro ogni speranza ad assicurarsi un futuro, se non felice almeno sereno, grazie alla generosità inaspettata di un personaggio insospettabile.

Ma, al di là dell’apparente tema centrale e al di là del lieto fine, quella raccontata da Kafu più che la storia di una geisha risulta essere una galleria di ritratti, dipinti con pochi, minimali e decisi tratti, che riescono ad animare il vero grande quadro che interessa all’autore: quello di un Giappone che sta cambiando, che sta abbandonando valori, istituzioni e tradizioni, in favore di una superficialità, di un arrivismo, di una mancanza di rispetto, di poesia, di coscienza. Le espressioni più ricorrenti nel romanzo sono “Ma i tempi stavano cambiando…”, o una delle sue parafrasi, e “l’inevitabile tendenza dei tempi”, sempre accompagnate da una realistica panoramica della realtà e da un indiscutibile senso di rammarico, rimpianto e nostalgia e soprattutto di impotenza.

Così c’è sì il ritratto dell’impotente fanciulla condannata dalla tradizione per ben due volte a un destino gravoso e infelice, ma c’è anche quello della giovane Ranka che, pur presentandosi come geisha, si allontana dalla sua figura remissiva e posata per abbracciare con entusiasmo e opportunismo le libertà sessuali ed espressive dell’Occidente: definita “una di quelle nuove donne”, con un’evidente connotazione negativa, ottiene però un grande successo tra i clienti più licenziosi! Il medesimo successo raggiunto dal rampante Yoshioka, che dopo aver studiato all’estero ed essere rientrato in Giappone, trova un ottimo impiego e scala la gerarchia aziendale, amato dai superiori e guardato con astio dai colleghi, e si costruisce una salda reputazione come professionista e affarista, ma anche come edonista nel mondo fluttuante, cavalcando così tra il mondo futuro verso cui è proiettato il Giappone e quello tradizionale che si sta spegnendo, e riuscendo a prendersi il meglio da entrambi, proprio come Ranka.

Per i ragazzi dell’era moderna, scevri di qualsiasi traccia dei valori del Confucianesimo che avevano forgiato le generazioni passate, l’unica cosa che contava veramente era il successo, raggiungere il proprio obiettivo, e Yoshioka non aveva mai avuto l’inclinazione o il tempo libero per mettere in dubbio i mezzi che lo avevano portato fin dove era arrivato. Non c’era davvero nulla per cui sentirsi in colpa: si trattava semplicemente dell’inevitabile tendenza dei tempi. (pag. 61)

E poi ci sono i ritratti di coloro che sono appartenuti al Giappone dei valori confuciani, dell’armonia shintoista, della poesia tradizionale, e che assistono sgomenti e nostalgici al suo lento sbiadire: Gozan, ex cantastorie che dopo aver sposato una geisha è diventato con lei proprietario di un’Okiya, e Kurayama, romanziere e autore di ballate jōruri e di pièce per il teatro kabuki.

Ma i tempi stavano cambiando, soprattutto nel primo ventennio del Ventesimo secolo. Novi sviluppi caratterizzavano la letteratura, l’arte, il teatro, la musica popolare e persino le cose della vita quotidiana. Lungi dal volerne prendere parte, Kurayama trovò sempre maggiori motivi di indignazione. (pag. 141)

«Per qualche motivo non penso che potrei. Non con il mondo di adesso. Non c’è più nessuno che desidera rimanere fermo abbastanza a lungo da ascoltare vecchie storie.» (Gozan)

Così, quello di Kafu è un romanzo che inaspettatamente pone accenti toccanti non sugli amori e le sofferenze della giovane geisha protagonista, ma sugli amori e le sofferenze di un Giappone che sta smarrendo la sua identità e che vive tra nostalgia per il passato glorioso ed entusiasmo per un futuro che appare luminoso ma anche immemore e cieco.

Non importava quanto si fossero occidentalizzati i costumi e le maniere: finché si continuavano a sentire le campane di una notte d’estate o a vedere il flusso della Via Lattea in una sera d’autunno, finché sopravvivevano gli alberi e le piante tipiche di ogni regione, fino ad allora era cero che il dolore sarebbe rimasto sempre al centro delle relazioni tra uomini e donne, come dicevano le vecchie ballate. (pag. 140)

* Bibliografia
Arthur Golden, Memorie di una geisha, Tea, 2000
Harumi Setouchi, La virtù femminile, Neri Pozza, 2000
Lesley Downer, Geisha. Storia di un mondo segreto, Piemme, 2002
Mako Yoshikawa, I mille modi dell’amore, Piemme, 2000
Anonimo, Romanzo di una geisha, Dellavalle editore, 1971
Jina Bacarr, Passioni di una geisha, Harlequin Mondadori, 2006

Commento settembre 2011

[Ana Luisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 estrellas

No es un libro malo pero no es mi estilo. Para las pocas páginas que son se siente muy pesado, mucha descripción y se percibe que en ciertas partes el autor divaga del centro de la historia. Está muy desequilibrado, ya que al inicio de la historia avanza rápido, después entramos a un pantano donde por más que quieras no logras avanzar y el final se va como agua. No me acostumbré a la prosa del autor y la historia tiene un enfoque diferente al que creía.

De manera resumida este libro se centra en la geisha Komayo, que desde pequeña empieza a ejercer el oficio, se casa y regresa después de unos años. Ahí es cuando tenemos la oportunidad de conocer el negocio de las geishas. No hay romance o mucho movimiento, se refleja la vida de una geisha y lo que tienen que hacer por rivalidad/venganza/supervivencia. El libro es honesto en la narración pero creo que en mí no logró el impacto que buscaba.