Memoirs of a Geisha: Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

The novel’s main story begins with an elderly Sayuri Nitta remarking that the afternoon she met Mr. Ichiro Tanaka in the year 1929 was the best and worst afternoon of her entire life. She says that if she had never met Mr. Tanaka, then she would never have become a geisha. Unlike most geisha, Sayuri wasn’t raised from an early age to be a geisha. Instead, she grew up as Chiyo Sakamoto, the daughter of a poor fisherman in the small village of Yoroido, on the Sea of Japan. She would only take the name Sayuri after she became a geisha.

Sayuri says that she inherited her mother’s translucent blue-grey eyes. Fortunetellers had told her mother that their blue eyes, a rarity among Japanese people, indicated that they both had a lot of water in their personalities. In contrast, her father Minoru Sakamoto – who was over twenty years older than her mother – had a lot of wood in his personality. Sayuri says that water flows quickly, always finding a crack to spill through, whereas wood holds fast and does not change easily. Like wood, her father acted slowly and methodically in everything he did. Sayuri says that her sister Satsu, who is six years older than her, took after their father. Satsu had a slowness about her, both in her actions and her thinking.

Sayuri (now referring to herself as Chiyo, her name at the time) remembers that when she was seven, her mother came down with a terrible illness. Over the course of the next two years, her mother grew so frail that before long she was unable to leave her bed because of the pain. One day, the village doctor drops by their small home near the sea to examine her mother. Chiyo’s father and the doctor discuss her mother’s condition as Chiyo makes tea. The doctor says that Sakamoto’s wife will die in a few weeks. Hearing this, Chiyo feels as if a panicked bird were flapping in her mind.

When the doctor leaves, Sakamoto tells Chiyo to get incense for their Buddhist altar. Chiyo asks if he has anything else to tell her, hoping that he would say something comforting about her mother’s condition. But her father says nothing, and slowly raises a single finger, a sign that means he wants her to say nothing else.

To escape her worries about her mother, Chiyo runs as fast as she can down a path to the village. Slipping on the path, she falls and knocks herself into a daze. The next thing Chiyo remembers is finding herself on a table that smells like fish, staring at Mr. Ichiro Tanaka. The wealthiest man in their village, Mr. Tanaka owns the fishing company that employs most of the fishermen in Yoroido. Seeing Chiyo fall, he had carried her to one of his nearby fishing outlets. Mr. Tanaka says that he recognizes Chiyo as Mr. Sakamoto’s daughter, and he compliments her on the beautiful color of her eyes. Looking at Mr. Tanaka, Chiyo sees an intelligent sharpness in his face. Chiyo feels as if Mr. Tanaka sees the world as it really is, even if he does not always like what he sees. Mr. Tanaka calls for the doctor, who tends to Chiyo’s lip before sending her off.

After buying the incense that her father asked for, Chiyo heads back to her house. On the way she feels a mix of emotions. She worries about her mother’s health, but also feels a pleasant sensation when she thinks of Mr. Tanaka. Chiyo clutches the incense to her chest and says Mr. Tanaka’s name over and over into the wind, until she feels satisfied that she hears the music in every syllable.