Cultural Topic #7 The American Geisha

  American anthropologist Dr.Liza Crihfield Dalby is famous for being the first western woman to have ever trained as and become a geisha.

    Dalby studied and performed fieldwork in the Kyoto geisha community of Pontocho, which she wrote about in her Ph.D dissertation, published as the book Geisha, and later made in to the 1986 television movie "American Geisha".

  Becoming a geisha is a long and involved process. Training can last for over five years. Apprentices, known as maiko, are trained in the traditional Japanese arts, as well as in social skills such as tea-serving and conversation.

  Because of her age, Dalby couldn't debut as a maiko.  Most Kyoto geisha start out as maiko at 15. She was 25, however it was agreed, by the older geisha that she could instead debut as a full geisha. A geisha will specialize in either dance or music. It was only because she had prior skills as a shamisan player that she was allowed to become a geisha She made her debut in the  1976, taking the geisha name Ichigiku  (First Crysanthimum) 

  Dr.Dalby returned to America, she acted as a consultant to Arthur Golden when he was writing his novel, "Memoirs of a Geisha" and later, as what she calls an “on-set geisha adviser” for director Rob Marshall’s film adaptation. 

Since then she has written five other books. Kouta: Little Songs of the Geisha, Kimono: Fationing Culter this was then fallowed by her first novel The Tale of Murasaki. In 2007 she wrote her memoir East Wind Melts the Ice, which was then followed two years later by her second novel, Hidden Buddhas.

This September She will be attending the St.Louis Japanese festival as a guest speaker. She will give an illustrated talk about her long engagement with Japanese culture, including her experience studying and writing about geisha, kimono, the Tale of Genji, and the deep influence of Japanese seasonal sensibilities on her life and garden. 

Dalby will present this talk wearing a modern kimono, using many images in a slide show to entertain and enlighten a general audience.

Saturday, 12:30 and 5 p.m.
Sunday, 5:30 p.m.
Monday, 10:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. 

Missouri Botanical Garden

4344 Shaw Blvd

St. Louis, MO 63110

(314) 577-5100

For more information on Dr. Dalby or her books pleases visit her web site lizadalby.com

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