If you want to understand the culture of geisha and maiko, I would like to advise you not to read "Memoirs of a Geisha". Everything from the lip painting method to the water ceremony is wrong, and the geisha will be Confused with a hot spring geisha (actually a prostitute).
I personally recommend the novel "Yanghui Tower". Its author, Tomiko Miyao, is a rare female celebrity in the Japanese literary world, and her research on the world of traditional Japanese arts is also very in-depth. However, the movie is a bit inferior, with too many changes and a lot of controversy. Personally, I feel that its director Goshe Heroes was too ambitious. The narrative is fragmented and various elements are forcibly inserted. The whole drama is stagnant and makes people confused. . Of course, these fragmentary images have a very strong montage effect as a whole, rendering a strong sense of artistic visuality.
The movie "Geishalou" is also good. The whole movie revolves around the heroine, which is not very similar to "Yanghui Tower".
I haven’t watched the documentary "The Road to the Geisha" yet, but according to the feedback from Geisha Bar friends, it is still good
"The Slim Maiko" was released last year, and it is the same as "The Geisha". It is different from "Brotherhouse" and "Yanghui Tower" in that the song and dance performances in it combine modern elements. However, there are also some very shortcomings. Although it reproduces the story structure of the American movie "My Fair Lady", it is far inferior to the previous film. The director used more scenes to express his loss and concern about Kyoto's geisha culture and traditional culture. The whole plot was bland and a bit disappointing after watching it. In addition to singing and dancing, there are also shortcomings in terms of debut issues and makeup details. Of course, this is better than "Memoirs of a Geisha".
"Maiko Class" is a rare comedy about geishas. The plot is a bit exaggerated and absurd, but people can also learn a lot of cultural knowledge through laughter, and the response is generally very good.
"Flower War: The Legend of Gion, Kyoto: Geisha. Iwasaki Mineko" is what I strongly recommend, because Iwasaki Mineko is the prototype geisha of the heroine Sayuri in "Memoirs of a Geisha". It can be said that, This is the real Memoirs of a Geisha. There is a lot of detailed knowledge about geisha in it. What impressed the audience the most was that the geisha in Kyoto would go door-to-door to give away half-red and half-white geisha lunches to merchants and colleagues with whom they had dealings. The red bean and rice part represents the flower street, and the white rice represents the world where ordinary people live. It means "Although I am going to step out of the flower street and live in another world, life is unpredictable. Maybe one day I will come back again, and I will ask for your guidance and care." When Iwasaki Mineko retired, she was unprecedented. An all-white lunch box was given as a gift - "Now that I have decided to leave, I will never come back." She is a very unique and legendary woman. I have always wanted to read "Memoirs of a Real Geisha" written by her. As the most popular geisha in the mid-20th century, she was dissatisfied with the author of the novel "Memoirs of a Geisha" for tampering with the truth about the life of a geisha. She filed a lawsuit in the U.S. court and wrote the book herself. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find the resources for this book.
If you still have questions about geisha, you can come to Geisha Bar, which has a special question and answer area and video resources. The following is the address: /p/2923328331