All we can do is flow where the landscape of our life carries us.' 'I suppose I am like a river that has come up against a dam, and that dam is Hatsumomo.''Yes, probably that is true, she said, looking at me calmly. Those of us with water in our personalities don't pick where we'll flow to. Even wood, which is its natural complement, can't survive without being nurtured by water, and yet you haven't drawn on those in living your life, have you?' 'Well actually ma'am, water flowing was what gave me the idea of escaping over the roof'.' I am sure you are a clever girl, Chiyo, but I don't think that was your cleverest moment.

It can wash away earth it can put out fire it can wear a piece of metal down and sweep it away. There is no doubt it is the most versatile of the five elements. It changes shape and flows around things, and finds the secret paths no one else has thought about-the tiny hole through the roof, or the bottom of a box. Here is another one, my favorite: 'Waiting patiently doesn't suit you, I can see you have a great deal of water in your personality. When I was very young I told my mother I thought someone had poked a whole in her eyes and all the ink had drained out- which she thought very funny'.

Instead of being dark brown like everyone else's, my mother's eyes were a translucent gray, and mine are just the same. Here is one example: 'I was very much like my mother.My mother said it was because we were made just the same, she and I - and that was true we both had the same peculiar eyes of a sort you almost never see in Japan.

Golden writes poetry in his prose, painting pictures that are so vivid to read that weeks later one can still bring them to mind. Memoires of a Geisha gives a clear picture about the life of a Geisha, although I felt that there were some subtleties that were left out, including some of the seduction trades that make Geisha so fascinating.Īlthough this book is written by a man (and sometimes that shows through in the way our main character's thoughts are explained to us, too directly, as if some femenine grace is somehow still lacking) the world of Geisha, a world ruled by women, is perfectly laid out for us. Since I was a teenager I have come across a lot vague references having to do with Geishas, but none have given a clear picture about what these entertainment women are all about.

The geisha book