num_pages: 309
description: Madame Sadayakko was the ultimate geisha, so exquisite that the prime minister of the day paid a fortune to deflower her. But she was a rebel who wanted to carve her own path in life. In 1899 she married a subversive avant garde actor and, with a troupe of other actors, they set out on the first ever tour of the West by a Japanese theatre company. Sadayakko took to the stage and became an instant star. She danced for the American President and for the Prince of Wales in London, Picasso painted her, Gide swooned over her and Rodin admired her. But back in Japan, she suffered the stigma of being an ex-geisha and an actor and was forced, in the end, to make a terrible choice - between respectability and love.
language: English
title: Madame Sadayakko: the geisha who seduced the West
titlecomplete: Madame Sadayakko: the geisha who seduced the West
genres: Cultural, Historical, Biography, Asia, Japan, Nonfiction, Asian Literature, Biography Memoir, 20th Century, History
ratings_count: 624
publisher: Review