

As a result, she felt compelled to publish her own autobiography to properly depict the life of a Kyoto geisha, a rarity given the code of secrecy that permeates the craft. The book and movie depicted many of the geisha training experiences as negative while Iwasaki claims they were quite positive and far from traumatizing. The historical inaccuracies in the movie, and the book on which it is based, were so glaring that the inspiration for the main character, Mineko Iwasaki, sued the author of the book for defamation.

However, a critical race, narrative, and industry analysis of the film reveals that the film prioritizes the tastes of Western, white audiences and thus indulges in false racial stereotypes and historical inaccuracies. On the surface, Memoirs of a Geisha appears to be a cultural window into the true lives of geisha. But keeping her outward grace as a geisha becomes difficult, as Sayuri yearns to be reunited with the man with whom she is in love (Desilet). Due to her popularity, though, Sayuri must also endure attacks on her reputation from other geisha.

After years of training, she takes on the name Sayuri and eventually becomes a successful geisha. Memoirs of a Geisha ( Geisha) centers around a poor country girl who is sold to a geisha house.
