Madame Sadayakko: The Geisha Who Bewitched the West

I read this book today, and I couldn't put it down. It is beautifully written and had some happy and sad parts. It is a really great story about the life of Japan's first star who traveled to America and Europe telling of her experiences. It also tells of her lovers, historical events, scenery,family, and geisha life. While I was reading this, I felt like I was in olden day Japan. Very descriptive and a wonderful read. I highly recommend this book.

I love books on the Victorian period and found this tied in on two levels. The view of Japan and its culture at the time was enlightening, and the parallels with Europe and the U.S. informative. Saddayakko's struggles were almost epic, and her strength of will amazing. The reader is pulled into her struggles just to survive, maintain some dignity, and fight convention in Japan and the world. It is also an interesting history of the world of theater and the hypocrisy of society as it worships and vilifies at the same time.

I picked up Lesley's Downer's "Madame Sadayakko: The Geisha Who Bewitched the West" with great apprehension. Earlier in the month, I had read another geisha biography which failed to bring the geisha culture alive for me. A close look at the author's name should have erased any doubts in my mind.Much like her "Women of the Pleasure Quarters", Lesley Downer's lastest effort is well-written and a wonderful read. I kept turning from the text to the photos to gaze at the creature who was so enchanting. With each change of her name, Madame Sadayakko morphed into another creature who managed to survive the blows and upsets life sent her. Her pre-geisha and geisha life is fascinating but what truly captured my attention was her and the troupe's struggles to stay afloat once Japan was far behind.

Cunningly released a year before the centenary of Madama Butterfly's first performance, this wonderful book is part love story, part adventure and part theatrical memoir. Sada Yakko was the first woman to step onto a Japanese stage in centuries, and also the first Japanese woman to achieve international fame. Painted by Picasso and an inspiration to Puccini, her first lover was the Japanese prime minister, and her husband was a leading light of the New Wave in the Japanese theatre. From early days in penury, when her troupe had to literally sell off some of the younger actors, to the heights of stardom and her finding of true love in later years, this is a wonderful biography from Lesley Downer. It has TV series written all over it.

Lesley Downer has written a real page turner. With exquisite prose, she introduces us to Madame Sadayyako, a Geisha who became Japan's first actress, who disappeared into the shadows of history. But at the turn of the twentieth century Madame Sadayyako was world-wide known and touched the lives of Picasso, Rodin, Gide, the Tsar of Russia, the Prince of Wales, President McKinley of the USA, and Puccini, for whom she was the model for Madame Butterfly. Downer has the background to make this episode in Japanese history come alive, having lived in Japan for over a decade. Putting herself back into Madame Sadayyako's era is no easy task and required complete submersion in Japanese culture. The photographs are striking and go far toward bringing Madame Sadayyako's fascinating life into sharp focus. We are in the hands of an expert. Downer describes sumptuously the sights, sounds and customs of an era gone by, which deserves to be remembered for its effect on the Western World. I recommend Downer's book highly. It is in that rare category of a good read - and a rattling good story at that, from which one can learn also a great deal.