Memoirs of a Geisha: Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

The next afternoon Mameha summons Chiyo to her apartment. Mameha says that if Chiyo is going to be her younger sister, then she must do whatever Mameha says without question. Since Chiyo feels so much gratitude to Mameha for opening up the way to becoming a geisha, Chiyo agrees to Mameha’s conditions, promising not to disappoint her.

In the following days, Chiyo begins geisha training. Chiyo explains that the word “geisha” means “artist,” so her schooling consists of learning to sing, dance, and play a variety of instruments. Throughout the lessons, the teachers also correct the girls on their manners and posture. Geisha must learn how to maintain proper “comportment and behavior” around the men they entertain. Chiyo’s last lesson of the day is always the tea ceremony. During the tea ceremony, geisha serve tea in a very traditional manner, using specific cups and serving methods. After a long day of training, Chiyo finds the serenity of the tea ceremony as rejuvenating as a long night’s sleep.

At the beginning of her training, Chiyo and Pumpkin practice shamisen together at the okiya everyday, laughing and enjoying each other’s company. But one day Hatsumomo finds them together practicing. She tells Pumpkin never to say another word to Chiyo again, because she is now her rival in the house.

The next time Chiyo visits Mameha’s apartment, Mameha says Chiyo should strive for success, not popularity. Hatsumomo and Mameha are equally popular in Gion, but Mameha is more successful because she earned her independence. A geisha only earns her independence when the mistress of the okiya adopts her or if she earns enough money to assemble her own collection of kimono. Geisha kimono are very expensive, and geisha need many of them to wear throughout the year to keep the men interested.

Mameha says the only way a geisha can make enough money to earn her independence is by having a wealthy danna. Chiyo thinks about how some lower-class geisha soil their reputations by making themselves available to men on a nightly basis. But it is appropriate for a well-respected man to offer to be a geisha’s danna. Danna pay a geisha’s expenses and give her lavish gifts over a substantial period of time in exchange for certain “privileges” with the geisha.

Mameha explains that Hatsumomo hasn’t had a danna in a very long time. Generally, the female managers of teahouses act as mediators between a geisha and a potential danna. Since Hatsumomo is always rude to the teahouse managers, they always sabotage her whenever a man shows interest in becoming her danna. Without a danna, Hatsumomo has never made enough money to leave the okiya.

Mameha tells Chiyo that dance is the most revered art form, and the most important one for seducing men into wanting to be her danna. Though Chiyo doesn’t feel she has any natural talent for dance, her determination to become a geisha makes her work hard in class. Yet she still feels as if she fails to impart her movements with any emotion. One night she thinks of her family and feels a melancholy heaviness come upon her. She then casually moves her arm, and realizes that she has done so with great dignity. Chiyo discovers that when her body feels heavy, she can move with greater expressiveness and dignity. From that day on, Chiyo dances as if the Chairman were observing her movements, which gives her dance a deep sense of feeling.