Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Sayuri is based on the real-life geisha Mineko Iwasaki, who sued the pants off author Arthur Golden for revealing the secrets of a geisha. She says she never gave Golden permission to use her name, which he states in the book's acknowledgements. But since the geisha was out of the bag, Iwasaki published her own memoir shortly after Golden's Memoirs was published. (Source)
The Ichiriki Teahouse, where Sayuri frequently entertains, is a real-life teahouse, and the setting of the famous story of the 47 Ronin, a real-life group of samurai who set off to avenge their slain master. They had a few cups of tea first. The story was recently fictionalized in the movie 47 Ronin starring Keanu Reeves, because when you think of a Japanese samurai, you think of Neo. (Source)
One of the many colorful metaphors in the book involves mirrors, where someone says that Chiyo's eyes are like the color of a mirror, "a sparkly gray" (5.11). That person is wrong. Science recently discovered that a mirror is actually a faint shade of green. Thanks, science! (Source)
Who was a big fan of Memoirs of a Geisha? Madonna, that's who. Her 2006 video for "Nothing Really Matters" was heavily inspired by Geisha…and zombies? We're not sure. You know it's a weird video when Madonna's patent leather kimono is the most normal thing in it. (Source)