d string, and padded with layers of newspaper, was a rock about 
the size of a fist. I'm sure I was at least as puzzled to receive a rock as Nobu must have been 
by the fan I'd given him. When I looked at it more closely, I saw it wasn't a rock at all, but a 
piece of concrete. 

"You have in your hand some rubble from our factory in Osaka," Nobu told me. "Two of our 
four factories were destroyed. There's a danger our whole company may not survive the next 
few years. So you see, if you've given me a piece of yourself with that fan, I suppose I've just 
given you a piece of myself as well." 

"If it's a piece of Nobu-san, then I will cherish it." 

"I didn't give it to you to cherish. It's a piece of concrete! I want you to help me turn it into a 
lovely jewel for you to keep." 

"If Nobu-san knows how to do such a thing, please tell me, and we'll all be rich!" 

"I have a task for you to do in Gion. If it works out as I hope, our company will be back on its 
feet in a year or so. When I ask you for that piece of concrete back and replace it with a jewel 
instead, the time will have come at last for me to become your danna." 

My skin felt as cold as glass when I heard this; but I showed no sign of it. "How mysterious, 
Nobu-san. A task I could undertake, which would be helpful to Iwamura Electric?" 

"It's an awful task. I won't lie to you. During the final two years before Gion closed, there was 
a man named Sato who used to go to parties as a guest of the Prefectural Governor. I want 
you to come back so you can entertain him." 


I had to laugh when I heard this. "How horrible a task can that be? However much Nobu-san 
dislikes him, I'm sure I've entertained worse." 

"If you remember him, you'll know"exactly how horrible it is. He's irritating, and he acts like a 
pig. He tells me he always sat across the table so he could stare at you. You're the only thing 
he ever talks about-when he talks, that is; because mostly he just sits. Maybe you saw him 
mentioned in the news magazines last month; he was just appointed to be a Deputy Minister 
of Finance." 

"My goodness!" I said. "He must be very capable." 

"Oh, there are fifteen or more men who hold that title. I know he's capable of pouring sake 
into his mouth; that's the only thing I've ever seen him do. It's a tragedy that the future of a 
great company like ours should be affected by a man like him! It's a terrible time to be alive, 
Sayuri." 

"Nobu-san! You mustn't say a thing like that." 

"Why on earth not? No one's going to hear me." 

"It isn't a matter of who hears you. It's your attitude! You shouldn't think that way." 

"Why shouldn't I? The company has never been in worse condition. All through the war, the 
Chairman resisted what the government told him to do. By the time he finally agreed to 
cooperate, the war was almost over, and nothing we ever made for them-not one thing-was 
taken into battle. But has that stopped the Americans from classifying 

Iwamura Electric as a zaibatsu just like Mitsubishi? It's ridiculous. Compared to Mitsubishi, 
we were like a sparrow watching a lion. And there's something worse: if we can't convince 
them of our case, Iwamura Electric will be seized, and its assets sold to pay war reparations! 
Two weeks ago I'd have said that was bad enough, but now they've appointed this fellow 
Sato to make a recommendation about our case. Those Americans think they were clever to 
appoint a Japanese. Well, I'd rather have seen a dog take the job than this man." Suddenly 
Nobu interrupted himself. "What on earth is the matter with your hands?" 

Since coming up from the annex, I'd kept my hands hidden as best I could. Obviously Nobu 
had caught sight of them somehow. "Mr. Arashino was kind enough to give me the job of 
making dyes." 

"Let's hope he knows how to remove those stains," said Nobu. "You can't go back to Gion 
looking like that." 

"Nobu-san, my hands are the least of my problems. I'm not sure I can go back to Gion at all. 
I'll do my best to persuade Mother, but truthfully, it isn't my decision. Anyway, I'm sure there 
are other geisha who'll be helpful-" 

"There aren't other geisha! Listen to me, I took Deputy Minister Sato to a teahouse the other 
day with half a dozen people. He didn't speak a word for an hour, and then finally he cleared 
his throat and said, 'This isn't the Ichiriki.' So I told him, 'No, it's not. You certainly got that 
right!' He grunted like a pig, and then said, 'Sayuri entertains at the Ichiriki.' So I told him, 'No, 
Minister, if she were in Gion at all, she would come right here and entertain us. But I told you-
she isn't in Gion!' So then he took his sake cup-" 

"I hope you were more polite with him than that," I said. 


"I certainly wasn't! I can tolerate his company for about half an hour. After that I'm not 
responsible for the things I say. That's exactly the reason I want you there! And don't tell me 
again it isn't your decision. You owe this to me, and you know it perfectly well. Anyway, the 
truth is ... I'd like the chance to spend some time with you myself . . ." 

"And I would like to spend time with Nobu-san." 

"Just don't bring any illusions with you when you come." 

"After the past few years, I'm sure I don't have any left. But is Nobu-san thinking of 
something in particular?" 

"Don't expect me to become your danna in a month, that's what I'm saying. Until Iwamura 
Electric has recovered, I'm in no position to make such an offer. I've been very worried about 
the company's prospects. But to tell the truth, Sayuri, I feel better about the future after 
seeing you again." 

"Nobu-san! How kind!" 

"Don't be ridiculous, I'm not trying to flatter you. Your destiny and mine are intertwined. But I'll 
never be your danna if Iwamura Electric doesn't recover. Perhaps the recovery, just like my 
meeting you in the first place, is simply meant to be." 

During the final years of the war, I'd learned to stop wondering what was meant to be and 
what wasn't. I'd often said to the women in the neighborhood that I wasn't sure if I'd ever go 
back to Gion-but the truth is, I'd always known I would. My destiny, whatever it was, awaited 
me there. In these years away, I'd learned to suspend all the water in my personality by 
turning it to ice, you might say. Only by stopping the natural flow of my thoughts in this way 
could I bear the waiting. Now to hear Nobu refer to my destiny . . . well, I felt he'd shattered 
the ice inside me and awakened my desires once again. 

"Nobu-san," I said, "if it's important to make a good impression on Deputy Minister Sato, 
perhaps you should ask the Chairman to be there when you entertain him." 

"The Chairman is a busy man." 

"But surely if the Minister is important to the future of the company-" 

"You worry about getting yourself there. I'll worry about what's best for the company. I'll be 
very disappointed if you're not back in Gion by the end of the month." 

Nobu rose to leave, for he had to be back in Osaka before nightfall. I walked him to the 
entryway to help him into his coat and shoes, and put his fedora on his head for him. When I 
was done, he stood looking at me a long while. I thought he was about to say he found me 
beautiful-for this was the sort of comment he sometimes made after gazing at me for no 
reason. 

"My goodness, Sayuri, you do look like a peasant!" he said. He had a scowl on his face as he 
turned away. 

Chapter thirty 

That very night while the Arashinos slept, I wrote to Mother by the light of the tadon burning 
under the dye vats in the annex. Whether my letter had the proper effect or whether Mother 


was already prepared to reopen the okiya, I don't know; but a week later an old woman's 
voice called out at the Arashinos' door, and I rolled it open to find Auntie there. Her cheeks 
had sunken where she'd lost teeth, and the sickly gray of her skin made me think of a piece 
of sashimi left on the plate overnight. But I could see that she was still a strong woman; she 
was carrying a bag of coal in one hand and foodstuffs in the other, to thank the Arashinos for 
their kindness toward me. 

The next day I said a tearful farewell and went back to Gion, where Mother, Auntie, and I set 
about the task of putting things back in order. When I'd had a look around the okiya, the 
thought crossed my mind that the house itself was punishing us for our years of neglect. We 
had to spend four or five days on only the worst of the problems: wiping down the dust that 
lay as heavily as gauze over the woodwork; fishing the remains of dead rodents from the 
well; cleaning Mother's room upstairs, where birds had torn up the tatami mats and used the 
straw to make nests in the alcove. To my surprise, Mother worked as hard as any of us, 
partly because we could afford only a cook and one 
adult maid, though we did also have a young girl named Etsuko. She was the daughter of the 
man on whose farm Mother and Auntie had been living. As if to remind me of how many 
years had passed since I first came to Kyoto as a nine-year-old girl, Etsuko herself was nine. 
She seemed to regard me with the same fear I'd once felt toward Ha-tsumomo, even though 
I smiled at her whenever I could. She stood as tall and thin as a broom, with long hair that 
trailed behind her as she scurried about. And her face was narrow like a grain of rice, so that 
I couldn't help thinking that one day she too would be thrown into the pot just as I had been, 
and would fluff up white and delicious, to be consumed. 

When the okiya was livable again, I set out to pay my respects around Gion. I began by 
calling on Mameha, who was now in a one-room apartment above a pharmacy near the Gion 
Shrine; since her return a year earlier, she'd had no danna to pay for anything more 
spacious. 