Chiyo Sakamotto Quotes

“My name back then was Chiyo. I wouldn’t be known by my geisha name, Sayuri, until years later.”

“Even if we did survive and Mr. Tanaka adopted us, would my own family cease to exist?”

“In the years since, I’ve been called beautiful more often than I can remember. Though, of course, geisha are always called beautiful, even those who aren’t. But when Mr. Tanaka said it to me, before I’d ever heard of such a thing as a geisha, I could almost believe it was true.”

“I’m sure I looked no more elegant than a guest at an inn looks wearing a robe on the way to the bath. But I’d never before worn anything nearly so glamorous on my body.”

“Evidently in the six months since I’d last seen them, I’d changed more than I realized.”

“It struck me as odd that even though no one could have called her a beauty, Mr. Tanaka’s eyes were fixed on her like a rag on a hook.”

“Your job is to bow as low as you can, and don’t look them in the eye.”

“Do as you’re told; don’t be too much trouble; and you might begin learning the arts of a geisha two or three months from now.”

“Maybe you’re just too pretty yourself to be able to see it elsewhere.”

“We don’t become geisha so our lives will be satisfying. We become geisha because we have no other choice.”