Meet the Cast
Nitta Sayuri (Sakamoto Chiyo)
The Name GameFirst things first: last name first. In Japanese culture, the family name goes before the given name. Americans would know our protagonist as a young girl as Chiyo Sakamoto, and as a g...
Mameha
Kyoto's Next Top GeishaEvery geisha wants to be her, and every man wants to be with her. Fate may often be cruel to Sayuri, but it was kind by matching her with Mameha as her older geisha sister. S...
Hatsumomo
So You Think You Can GeishaHatsumomo is the head geisha in charge of the Nitta okiya, and she makes sure everyone knows it. She's cruel, bossy, and manipulative, and as Sayuri astutely observes, "s...
Chairman Iwamura Ken
The Dreamiest Businessman in JapanOh, the Chairman! He's the object of Sayuri's love, a man who is nice to her as a girl—giving her a bit of spare change and saying, "We none of us find as much k...
Toshikazu Nobu
No EscapeNobu can mean "trust," "prolong or stretch," or one of the most famous Japanese restaurants in the world…and Nobu, the character, fits two of these characteristics. Guess which ones. (Hi...
Pumpkin
The Not-So-Great PumpkinPumpkin is Sayuri's childhood friend, and by "friend" we mean "person who doesn't treat her like dog poo." She's dopey, terrible at school, her tongue always sticks out, and...
Mother, Auntie, and Granny
Family MattersMother, Auntie, and Granny remind us of the three fates. Not only do geisha end up in the okiya through a cruel twist of fate, but each woman is at a different stage of life, and has...
Sakamoto Satsu
Hard-Knock LifeIf the fate of the two Sakamoto sisters is like a coin, Satsu and Chiyo are on opposite sides—heads you win, tails you lose. And Chiyo definitely wins best out of three.Satsu is ol...
Dr. Crab
A Case of the CrabsA man bidding tons of cash for a teenage girl's virginity is creepy enough, but in case you think that's okay, Dr. Crab cranks up the creep factor to eleven by how he behaves aft...
Baron Matsunaga Tsuneyoshi
Almond JoylessIt seems like anyone who would pay to be a geisha's mate is a jerk. Dr. Crab. Nobu. The Chairman. And the Baron. None of these are good examples of how to be a gentleman. The Baron is...
Mr. Tanaka Ichiro
Throwing It BackIf it weren't for Mr. Tanaka, the fish salesman, Chiyo would never have become a geisha. He is the "him" in one of the book's opening lines: That afternoon when I met [him] was the...
Chiyo's Parents
Tipped OverSayuri tells us that, as Chiyo, "Inside this tipsy house I lived something of a lopsided life" (1.1). That's a mild way of putting it. Her parents are basically useless. Her mother can't...
Other Players
There are a few other players in Sayuri's life we should mention. Arashino is a kimono maker who must sew parachutes during World War II, showing us how the war affects every aspect of Japanese lif...