Memoirs of a Geisha (pgs. 155-288)



Things are starting to look even gloomier for Chiyo. She's still stuck in her same horrible situation. She goes down to a bridge crying when she sees the Chairman. He's nice to her, which is a first for Chiyo. He tells her to pray so that she may become a geisha. Then he gives her a piece of candy. This starts a little school-girl crush on the Chairman.
Later, Granny is electrocuted by a heater and dies. At the funeral, Mameha shows up and recognizes Chiyo and offers to take her back into being to a geisha. The deal she strikes up with the ladies at the okiya is that if Chiyo can repay her fees by the time she's twenty. If they can do that, Mameha will receive twice her fee; but if she can't, she'll only get a fraction of it. So, Mameha starts to teach Chiyo the ways of the geisha. She sleeps with her head elevated on a small "head holder". That's surrounded with salt and rice. So if she falls off the head-holder, it's not very pleasant to wake up. This teaches her to sleep peacefully, and only on her back. After countless lessons like this, Mameha and Chiyo walk down the streets and try to stop a man with one look. This is terribly easy for Chiyo because of her rare blue-gray eyes. She takes a glimpse at a man on a bike, who crashes by just looking at her. This was pretty funny.
They later see Pumpkin has become a geisha and Chiyo is jealous. Next, it's Chiyo's turn. She changes her name to Sayuri and starts by going to tea. However, Hatsumomo is there to embarrass her. Hatsumomo goes wherever Sayuri goes to always try to outdo her with Pumpkin. So, Mameha takes Sayuri to a sumo match and they find the Chairman and his business partner who normally doesn't like geisha. However, he does take a liking to Sayuri. A while later, Sayuri is made the lead in a show with 100's of men waiting to bid on her. She becomes the most famous geisha in all of Kyoto and the most desired.
She goes to the Baron's (the Chairman's business partner) house for a party. The Baron takes her back into his room and strips her down. He doesn't rape her, just looks. But it is equally humiliating and violating to Sayuri. She is later examined and still found to be a virgin. This means she's worth a lot to the bidders. So much that she makes history, 15,000 yen. Mother declares Sayuri as the inheritor of the okiya. This devistates Pumpkin and Hatsumomo. Mother calls Hatsumomo nothing more than a common prostitute, based on how many men she sleeps with. Geisha are moving art, they sell that art but not their bodies. Pumpkin is sad, but Hatsumomo wants revenge.
Sayuri finds out the Baron was actually the highest bidder, even higher than 15,000 yen. But Mameha let it go to Dr. Crab because of how the Baron tried to rape Sayuri. She's very thankful.

These chapters were great. I still love all of her description and Sayuri is finally getting what she's been trying to get. however, she still hasn't gotten the Chairman. Hatsumomo will probably come back to get revenge on Sayuri, which will be interesting.