JJS Geisha Review

7/30/2019 JJS Geisha Review

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The Society for Japanese Studies

Review: [untitled]Author(s): David W. PlathSource: Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Summer, 1984), pp. 455-461Published by: The Society for Japanese StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/132146 .

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Review Section

Geisha. By Liza CrihfieldDalby. University of California Press,Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1983. xix, 347 pages. $25.00.Reviewed byDAVIDW. PLATHUniversity of Illinoisat Urbana-Champaign

Chuang-tzuwoke up from that famous nap and wondered. Was heonly a butterflydreamingthat he was a philosopheror was it theother way around? Anthropologist Liza Dalby here offers hermemoirsof a yearof fieldwork n Kyoto, whereshe was ableto playthe role of Ichigiku he ForeignGeisha of Ponto-chd.The book is, asthey say, a good read. It also is, I must say, writtenin such a waythat the reader begins to wonderif the authoris a geisha dreamingshe is an ethnographer r an ethnographerdreamingof beingayoruno ch5.Ichigiku is a stunningperformer. Already a media celebrity inJapan ("I was interviewed almost as often as I conducted inter-views," p. xv) she may well become one on this side of the Pacifictoo. She can set a mood, project illusions, shape an anecdote, andtease the interi with clever one-liners. Aunt Em and Uncle Henryback in Kansaswill findit easy to identifywith her in her triumphs("they laughedwhen I sat down to play the samisen"). And so theflower-and-willowworld of the geisha, usually so peculiar anddifficult to approach,will take on almost human dimensions.

Ichigiku will take you There, into the zashiki. You can eye theswirling silks, savor the sake, sing along with michiterusamisens,almost ready to believe that even a clod like you could do well inthose exotic soirees of Japan's artistic cognoscenti. Geisha justmightbe the firstbook by an Americananthropologist hat makesit455Journal of Japanese Studies, 10:2? 1984 Society for Japanese Studies


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456 Journal of Japanese Studiesto the screen as a feature film. (Oscar Lewis' Childrenof Sanchezwas filmed a few years ago, withAnthony Quinnas Sanchez,butthefilm never has been released.) Here is a new challenge for MerylStreep:to play Dalbythe anthropologistplayingIchigikuthe enter-tainer.If thiswere merelyIchigiku'sbook, a geisha'srecord of a yearinthe gei life, my review could end with another line or two. I wouldcough a specialist coughor two at the overstatementsIchigiku ikesto utter about Japanese life. And I might mutterabout Ichigiku'sLawrence-of-Arabia ose: thatlife alwaysis biggerandmorerealinthe flower beds ("emotions that seem to run stronger n the geishaworld,whereromance s trade.... the geisha live in rougherwatersthan most," p. 312). But then, that seems to be the world-view ofshow-biz people, as in those narcissistic films where Hollywoodportrays Hollywoodians in the agonies of making a Hollywoodmovie.This is, however, also Dalby's book, an "interpretiveethnog-raphy" (p. xvi). And if you read it as ethnographyand not just asentertainment t can offercautionary essons forall of us who aspireto interpretJaponicato the folks back home. Researchin Japan,allthe more so when it involves fieldwork,thrusts us into daily dilem-mas. How deeply shouldwe get immersed in people's lives? Whatdo we gain or lose, interpretivelyspeaking, at each level of depthand shallowness? How important s near-nativeproficiencyin thelanguage?or at role-playing?Andhow do we guardagainstdeludingourselves that we alreadyhave achieved it? I have never found a patsolution to all of this. And to me the orthodoxies of scientific

methodism are as smelly as any others. But the ethnographer/Japanographer as to make choices and, havingmadethem, has toown responsibilityfor them. Dalby's choice is to be "unabashedlysubjective" (p. xv). Well and good, a lot of us employ our subjec-tivities in our work. But I suspect thatquitea few of her colleaguesare going to be abashedby the way she conflatesethnographywithautobiography.When she was not engaged in the zashiki as Ichigiku,or beinginterviewed by the media, Dalby went aroundenergeticallyinter-viewingothers, observing,reading. She writes knowledgeablyon anumber of topics relevant to the demimonde.Among others thereare chapters on the social organization of geisha wards, on thenorms of zashiki play and samisen musicalgenres and the correctway to wear kimono, on techniques of geisha training,on relationswithclientsandlovers. Thoughherbase-campwas in Ponto-chdshe


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Review Section 457went on field trips to other geisha camps in Tokyo and Atami.Thisdoes not cover the whole domainof geishadom but it certainlyalertsthe readerto variations in the landscape.In addition there are two historical chapters that trace thetraditionalizationof the geisha in modern times. This occupationthat had been a pace setter for Tokugawa chic tried at first to grabthe lead in displayingmodernfashion-e.g., one geisha dance-showin- he 1930soffered a Rockettes number. But that turf alreadyhadbeen claimedby the hosutesu and the bar andthe Takarazuka irls.The geisha retreatedto the zashiki, to a nativistrevival of kimono,samisen, and dodoitsu, and carved themselves a new niche as pur-veyors of ethnicfun'iki instead of mddo.For these two chapters Dalbyhas the stageto herself. Ichigiku soff in the greenroom, because she wasn't a part of Ponto-choin theold days. Dalbyhasto operateas a scholar: marshalevidence, weighsources, andpersuade by presentinga line of argument. She can't,as she does so often elsewhere, hide behind Ichigiku, insistingthatwe accept her alter ego's utterancesas Authority,for after all she"was" (in the book's phrasing)a geisha.Peculiaras it might seem, for me these two chapters are the mostpersuasive in the book. For one thing, here Dalby's role-confusiondoes not block the view. For another, here we can see events ingeishadomclearly contingentupon events in the rest of the society.The geisha tribes are not-as they often seem to be elsewhere in thebook-living on isolated islands in the floatingworld. Furthermore,althoughsnapshots and illustrationspop up here and there in theother chapters, the effect is ho-hum. In the historical section, theaptly-chosenvisuals sing to the text in graphiccounterpoint.But more than any of the above, when Dalby gets away fromIchigikushe begins to take her readeron an intellectualquest, notjust a guidedtour throughthat exotic world thatwives and touristsnever will know. One can begin to see geisha life-workand image-workas processes shapingeach other, can beginto comparecertainof the dynamics of geishadom with dynamics that go on in enter-tainmentsubculturesanywhere.

For instance, given the historicaltransformationsof the trade,are those who go to geisha parties today really Japan'sartisticbestand brightest (Ichigiku's view of it) or are they more often therichest and rightest? Geisha life-work is entertainment;much ofentertainment s image-work.Geisha image-workis ajabako filledwith the paradoxes of ethnicity nested in the enigmas of sex, thewhole thing wrappedin afuroshiki of premodernarts of intimate


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458 Journal of Japanese Studiesperformance. Image-workbecomes almost inseparable from life-work. Life-work s impossiblewithoutclients who arewealthyor onexpense accounts, andwho have reasons to want these emblemsofJapaneseness to be preserved. Contradictions amiliarto people inthe entertainment radesanywhere,hereget honedto razor's edge.Dalby does not show muchappetitefor (as a linguistmightput it)disambiguating uch contradictions. All of this abstract analysis ismy way of phrasing t, not hers. She rejects the idea of makinganycomparisons("a hackingaway of culturalmatrices") and opts in-stead "to elaborate upon what is culturally unique to geisha" (p.xvii). She doesn't sustain any analytic quest for long. But she isawarethat there can be morethanone blossomy pathup the Fuji ofculturalinterpretation.Dalby would like to be "the MargaretMead of the geishaworld"(pp. 180-81). She has her share of Mead-likevitality, atsukama-shisa, and flairfor the dramatic. But there is a powerfuldifference,and it has to do with the practice and purpose of ethnography.Mead never looked into her mirrorand saw a Melanesian or aSamoan:didnot confuseplayingnative withbeing native. Dalbyhasa very simple solution to the problemof moving through ethnog-raphy'sfield of epistemologicalmirrors: ust play the role sincerely.With your sword of truth you can cut down the false chrysan-themums. Across the river in Gion, for example, there are notenoughapprenticegeisha to staff a chorus line for the annualdanceshow. So "high school girls in wigs" are hired part-timefor theseason. "What the tourists do not realize is that the ranks of realmaiko are padded with imposters" (p. 256).In her Prefaceon "GeishaandAnthropology,"Dalby phrases itas a problemof true subjectivityvs. false objectivity. She warnsusnot to mistake her style of work for that of the conventionalre-searcher who engages in "participantobservation." The C.R. de-ludes himself with "a degreeof emotional distancethatonly createsa false sense of objectivity"(p. xv). If the C.R. only would, instead,engage in total immersion,play the role with his whole heart, hishonesty would give warrant hat lettingit all hangout in unabashed

subjectivityis the same thing as revealingthe unbewigged truth.One immediatedifficultywith this as researchpolicy is that in alot of conventionalfieldsituationsthe localsjust don't have any roleinto whichthey can comfortablycast you. Dalby was given a goldenopportunity,and she did a gold-medal ob of exploitingit. She wasnot kept hoveringon the fringesof an occupationalsubcultureas anobserver, she was allowed to participateas if she were a key per-


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Review Section 459former.ButI wonder f herenthusiasm or role-playwould havebeentoleratedfor long if she had insisted on "being" the head of thePonto-chdGeisha Associationin as literal a way as, she assures us,she "was" Ichigiku.Or let's suppose that her next field projectwillbe to investigate the women of the ImperialHousehold, anotherfascinatingset of emblemsof ethnicity. Can we predictthe reactionof the ImperialHouseholdAgency when it is asked to createa newPrincess called Kikuko, so that the investigator can deploy herunabashedsubjectivity?Gung-hosubjectivity seems to buy you as many problems asdoes gung-ho objectivity. Immersionin the life aroundyou, role-playing where possible, empatheticparticipation,trying on otherpeople's feelings as well as their wigs-all this and more is part offield researchas technique. MargaretMeadwas one of anthropolo-gy's most vigorousadvocates of subjectivityas the ethnographer'smost important ingleinstrumentof investigation.Butshe was clearaboutwhat she meant:a controlled,informedsubjectivitytemperedby all the critical self-distance that one can muster. During oneperiod of her life she even went around urging her colleagues toundergo didactic psychoanalysis in order to strengthen reflexiveself-awareness.Dalbyneverquestionsher alterego or wonders how well Ichigikuknows what she claims to know. Ichigikuis a poem who cannotmean but only be.Ichigikuindulges herself, for example, in sneering at CountryGeisha: for her, those in Atami. "An Atamigeishapartyreeks withprurience" (p. 234). The women only perform for the money,whereas"In the moreprestigiousflowerwards, effortsare madetosustaina feeling of mutuality" (p. 244). Afterall, "Onsengeisha isusuallytakenas a euphemism or prostitute"(p. 235). Told thatherviews only echo the haughtiness of people in Ponto-ch6, Dalbydismissesthe issue with a wave of the fan of sincerity."I considerita matterof intellectualhonesty, if thatis not too grandiosea term,tomake no secret of my own biases" (p. xvii).I consider it a matternot of honesty, of baring biases, but ofwhose biases are at issue, and whose we are seeking to interpret.Dalby's subjectivebiases remainjust as safely hidden, for all thatthe book is writtenin firstperson, as do the biases of the objectiveC.R., in whose ethnographies"the presence of the writeris hardlyacknowledgedand thingsare recorded as if they were simplythereto be observed" (p. xvi). The biases that are open to scrutinyarethose of Ichigiku.If the ethnographerholds any pointof view differ-


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460 Journal of Japanese Studiesent fromthat of her alterego, we neverlearnwhatit mightbe. And ifthe geishaof Ponto-chdholda view of the worldthatis any differentfrom Ichigiku's, that too remainsbefogged.There is a marvelous shell game going on here, and a lot of usindulgein it fromtime to time. Borrowingexotic robes, we chuckleat the round-eyesand the bourgeois,bash the bastardsunabashedly,then sit back and say, "Don't blameme, folks, I'm only tellingthetruth as my people know it." Done in moderation, done for apurpose, done with a bit of whimsy, there probably is no greatmischiefin it. Done for threehundredpages it beginsto cloy, and Ibegin to wonder what has been accomplished. Some parts of thebook madeit a candidate or the annualawardingof the Orderof theChrysanthemumand the Snort.If we can trust Ichigiku, then one thing that has been accom-plishedis a detailedrecordof the world as perceivedby a little tribeof womenlivingon the rightbank of the Kamo River.This certainlyis part of the work of ethnography,"to explainthe culturalmeaningof persons, objects, andsituations n the geishaworld" (p. xvi). Butif one does thejob uncritically, one runs the risk of ending in whatsome of my colleaguescall secondaryethnocentrism.Onesets asideone's own prejudicesonly to swallowthose of one's culturalconsul-tants (or what we used to call our informants).Like people most anywhere,the Ponto-chotribe see themselvesnot only at the center but as the pinnacle of their universe. Theyalone have preservedthe truegei. In theirzashiki the illusions aremorereal, the mutualitymoremutual,the work done for art's sakenot for the money. Other tribes of geisha just don't measureup.

Those in Gion, though they have some talent, are shabby. Those inAkasaka can't even play the samisen; those in Atami are leg-spreadingmercenaries.And as for bar hostesses andwives, they arehumanfurniture.Ichigikusees all of geishadom in terms of this ideal type. Theother tribes are not merelydifferent,they are deviant;indeed someare fallenwomen. Perhapswe shouldallow Ichigiku he rightto playthepot callingthekettlesblack;she is only sayingwhatshe honestlyfeels. It's none of herbusinessif somepreferkettles. But whataboutthe ethnographer?Are the folks in Akasaka and Atami going toaccept this as an honest report on the cultural meaningof theirworld?Anothersticky issue arisesout of Ichigiku'scompulsivehonestywith regardto people in her own tribe. From time to time she can'tresistthe temptation o talk out of turn.Forinstance, speakingof the


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Review Section 461house-motherwho took her in as an apprentice, she blurtsout thatthe woman has a "blind spot (which may perhapsone daycause thebankruptcy of the Mitsuba) . . . her fond devotion to her irresponsi-ble, spoiled son" (p. 31). Sometimes when talkingaboutthe behav-ior of guests in the zashiki she names their names. And eavesdrop-ping on her colleague Ichiteruat a music lesson, she announcesthatIchiteru"would never be a musician, although eventually some ofthe musical training might seep in" (p. 253).Dalby apparentlyfeels no responsibility for what her alter egosays. But her tribe are not illiterate isherfolkon an isolatedisland inthe South Pacific, and these days even they read English. Gossip ispartof theway anycommunitysustainsits solidarity,andsomekindof report on it is part of good ethnography. But most of us wouldrather eave out information hat we can't phrasein some way so asto avoid offending, without good reason, the dignity of people towhom, as guests, we owe so much.Whenthe curtain comes down, I walk out puzzlingwhether wehave gained as much as we have lost in this show of honesty. Ifthe purpose has been that of " presentingthe geisha's viewpoint"(p. xiv) thenI amnot even convincedthatthe role-playinghas addedmuch cultural interpretation.The changesof scene have been deft,the intimatemoments n thezashikiandbackstagehave been charm-ing. I like playingWalterMittytoo. But I continueto suspectthataconventionalresearcher,armedwithtape recorder, nterviewingkeyconsultantsover a fairlyshortperiod,wouldend up with a portraitofthe geisha world-view that is just about the same-without all thehistrionicfuss.On balance, Geisha is useful to the specialist as an update oncurrentconditionsin the flowerbeds. I found the historical sectionparticularly lluminating.Beyondthat the book did not addmuch towhat I alreadyknow about the geishaworld. Know at a distance, ofcourse; I have never been there and could not afford the priceypartying myself, but have drawn upon the reports of DeBecker,Perkins, and others who have been there.There has not been a good general book on geisha for a while;Dalby's volume answers to a widespreadand perennialcuriosity.Hertalentas a writeroughtto win her a vast audience.And perhapsher audience will be more adept than I am at playingTo Tell TheTruth and will spot, even before she is asked to standup, who thereal anthropologists. Afterall, "a geisha shouldkeep up her imageat all costs. Through sheer force of will, appearancecan createreality" (p. 273).

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