Sada Abe
Sada Abe was born in 1905. Her mother doted on Sada, who was her youngest surviving child, and allowed her to do as she wished. She encouraged Abe to take lessons in singing and in playing the , both activities which, at the time, were more closely associated with geisha - an occasionally low-class profession - and prostitutes than with classical artistic endeavor. Geisha were considered glamorous celebrities at the time, and Abe herself pursued this image by skipping school for her music lessons and wearing stylish make-up.