Thursday, January 24, 2008

Bad Geisha

In the Australian Women's Weekly, on sale today, my exclusive feature on the first foreign woman to officially debut as a geisha in Japan, Fiona Graham, now known as "Sayuki". Here is an extract:

Sayuki is the lowest geisha on the totem pole, so she has to sit in on the classes the other geisha are taking before it is her turn. “Most young Japanese would not be able to adapt. It’s very hard to be in that hierarchical world and to be the newest member.” Geisha take classes in dancing and music all their lives and for the new geisha it’s very labour-intensive. Sayuki jokes about her lack of skills. “I’m a very bad geisha.” Today’s classes go for four hours. Sayuki does seem on tenterhooks in her deference to the others. When I ask her what has been the hardest thing about learning to be a geisha, she says sitting for hours on her knees (she has had to lose several kilos to ease the pressure) and wearing black contact lenses. “The black wig looks wrong with pale eyes,” she says. In effect, with the thick white makeup, wig and contact lenses you would not know she was Western. Except, she says, for her Japanese. She speaks in the small, little-girl voice of the Japanese, but apparently, even though it is excellent for everyday life, it’s not perfect enough for geisha.