Madame Sadayakko — The Geisha Who Bewitched
the West
Lesley Downer, journalist and critically acclaimed author of Women of the Pleasure Quarters, is an expert on Japanese culture and fluet in the language. In her highly anticipated new book, Madame Sadayakko: The Geisha Who Seduced the West, Downer tells the story of Japan's most notorious geisha—and its first international superstar—Sadayakko (1871-1946). This vivid biography is based on meetings with Sadayakko's family members, including her granddaughter, who granted rare access, and those who knew her intimately.
Sadayakko was twenty-seven when she captivated the world's stage. At the height of her sensational tour, presidents and princes vied to meet her. She enthralled audiences from San Francisco to Boston; dazzled New York high society; and gave command-performances for President McKinley in Washington, D.C. and Edward Prince of Wales in London. After seeing her at the Paris Expo, Picasso sketched her portrait. Puccini based the title character of Madame Butterfly on her, and "Sadayakko kimonos" were all the rage.
Read Madame Sadayakko: The Geisha Who Seduced the West, as Lesley Downer chronicles the pivotal moments of the exquisite geisha's dramatic life, and reveals a missing piece of history from the turn of last century, when Japanese and Western cultures met for the first.
