Youki Kudoh

In 1929, a poor fisherman sells his 9-year-old daughter to a geisha house in Kyoto. Chiyo will be an unpaid servant until it is determined if she is beautiful enough for apprenticeship, and the house's clientèle. Run by Mother, the ruling geisha is Hatsumomo, and little Pumpkin her only friend. Trained under strict discipline for a lifetime of entertaining and flattering wealthy men, Sayuri grows up lovely, accomplished, and the target of jealous...