I'm going to direct you to a novel I am in the midst of reading called Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata.
This Nobel Prize winning book is set early in the 20th century, and is a wonderfully human representation of the life of a Komako, a country geisha - not a city geisha - in a Japanese hot-spring resort, as seen through the eyes of a rich playboy named Shimamura.
First off... here's a blog I wrote about geisha. It's actually pretty factual (all factual), and I think I did a decent job with it: WHITEPOWDER.
A country geisha, at least according to Kawabata, is more prone to selling herself (as a prostitute), than the city version who is more prim and proper. That's perhaps a weak way to describe things, because although the rich man who sees her certainly likes her and certainly pays for her services (he is married back home), our country geisha falls in love with him.
While Komako is not a prostitute, she does sleep with him, and he does pay for all of the time they spend together as a customer and geisha.
It's a love story, to be sure, but the descriptive elements truly let you see what life must have been like for folks in the small towns that were often cut off from civilization by the winter snows.
It's the possibility of love in an earthly paradise... but will the feeding of sensory pleasures help love grow, or does hedonism defeat itself through saturation. Does getting what you pay for destroy the possibility of real love?
Does love prevail? You should read this wonderful book and discover the hidden truths for yourself.
Still... I'm guessing that being a geisha is snow rife for a beautiful young woman. Sorry. I couldn't resist that joke.
Somewhere enjoying a hot time in a hot spring,
Andrew Joseph
Today's title song is by Gaijin, er, I mean Foreigner: PAYTHEPRICE.
PS: What's cool about the video, is that band is singing in front of a train - which is how Shimamura arrives at the hot spring town to visit with Komako.
PPS: Boy my knuckles look dry in that photo. In my youth, I used to like to punch inanimate objects. As I got older I preferred animate objects. Now I don't punch up anything at all. Except my prose, of course.
