Memoirs of a Geisha: Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

In the present, Sayuri explains about how one of the main hurdles to becoming a geisha is finding an “older sister.” By the time a girl is finally ready to make her debut as an apprentice, she needs to have established a relationship with a more experienced geisha, who is called an older sister. The older sister takes her younger one around the city, introducing her around Gion to her customers and patrons. In this way, apprentice geisha get experience while experienced geisha receive a portion of the apprentices’ income. Chiyo, however, had no one to be her older sister. Hatsumomo would never have done it, and few other geisha would risk Hatsumomo’s wrath by taking Chiyo on as a sister.

A few weeks after Chiyo’s encounter with Mameha, Mameha arrives at the okiya to speak with Mother. Chiyo cleans outside the reception room where Mother entertains guests so that Chiyo can overhear their conversation. Mameha tells Mother that she remembers meeting a beautiful and graceful girl named Chiyo at the geisha school two years ago. Since she hasn’t seen Chiyo in such a long time, Mameha says she’s come to the okiya to see if Chiyo is sick. Mother says Chiyo is perfectly healthy but stopped going to school because she was poorly suited for geisha life. Mameha acts surprised, saying that she thought Chiyo had such potential. Mameha says that she was even hoping to become Chiyo’s older sister.

Shocked that Mameha shows interest in one of her maids, Mother asks why she would want to take on Chiyo as her apprentice. Mameha says that she thinks Chiyo’s eyes will make her one of the most successful geisha in Gion. Mother responds that the Depression has hurt the okiya, so she would be taking a large risk investing more money in Chiyo by letting her become a geisha. Mother explains that Chiyo already has very high debts to pay. Mameha says that she thinks Chiyo will pay off any debts by the time she’s twenty, despite the city being in the midst of the Depression.

Persuaded by Mameha’s confidence in Chiyo’s ability to bring in money, Mother suggests a deal. She says that the okiya will pay Mameha only half of what she usually gets for being an older sister, but if Chiyo pays back all her debts by the age of twenty, then the okiya will pay Mameha the additional amount plus another fifty percent over her normal rate. Mameha agrees, but says she wants to see Chiyo’s debt first.

At that moment, Auntie tells Chiyo to go out to do an errand. When Chiyo comes back, Mameha is already gone. Chiyo goes to Mother’s room, where Mother asks her why Mameha would want to be her older sister. At that moment, Hatsumomo comes into the room and casually says that Mameha is just trying to annoy Hatsumomo as revenge for the ruined kimono. Hatsumomo says Mother should let Mameha try to mentor Chiyo, since Mameha’s plan will fail if she hopes to ever turn Chiyo into a successful geisha. Hatsumomo even says that Pumpkin, who is Hatsumomo’s younger sister, will be a better geisha after she has “sharpened her claws” by competing with Chiyo. Mother smiles at the thought of the two girls competing to make money for the okiya.