82 These way geisha used her charm to get her patrons attention. The
charm did not need to show a lot of her bare skin, it could be worked by showing certain parts of her arms or neck. The men later would got curious
and wanted to know more about the geisha.
4.6.2 Attend Meeting with Patron
When Sayuri was still an apprentice, she often went outside of Gion to accompany Mameha. She and Mameha accompanied and entertained
several important people of Mameha ‘s acquaintances. They also went to
various places and she learned about the situation outside of Gion from her trip. We can see from the following quotation:
When Mameha left Gion for an engagement, she often invited me along. I went on a day trip by train to Kobe, where Mameha cut the
ribbon for a new factory. On another occasion I joined her to accompany the former president of Nippon Telephone Telegraph
on a tour of Kyoto by limousine. Golden, 1997:183
Everytime Sayuri accompanied Mameha, she will learned about outer world from Gion, and also the current condition of society at that time.
Sayuri will also learned about the places that she visited.
4.6.3 Entertain the patrons with her skill
As the artist, geisha used her skill to perform and to entertain her patrons with various way. From talked about anything, playing games, music,
dance, and others, as long as they made their patrons feel relaxed and enjoyed their night.
83 Although Sayuri felt so shy and awkward when she made a
conversation with the patrons, but she handled it well. She also, in one chance, made a joke from Hatsumomo
‘s story and embarrassed her in front of the patrons. We can see from the following quotation:
I guess it didn ‘t seem particulary clever to me. The man laughed
harder than they ‘d laughed at Hatsumomo story. Golden: 1997,
178
As a geisha, Sayuri was capable to entertain her patrons using her skills. The purpose of every entertainment was to make the patrons felt
relaxed and enjoyed their night in Gion. So in other times, they would be back and asked Sayuri to accompany them while in Gion.
4.6.4 Participate in dance rehearsal
