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also known as , born , is a Japanese businesswoman, author and former geiko. Iwasaki was the most famous Japanese geiko in Japan until her sudden publicized retirement at the age of 29. Known for her performances for celebrity and royalty during her geisha life, Iwasaki was an established heir or ''atotori'' to her geisha house (okiya) while she was just an apprentice. American author Arthur Golden interviewed her for background information when writing his 1997 book, ''Memoirs of a Geisha''.〔 〕 Iwasaki later regretted interviewing for Golden, having cited a breach of confidentiality and later sued then settled with Golden for the parallelism between his book and her life. She later released her own autobiography titled ''Geisha of Gion'' in 2002. ==Overview== Born as Masako Tanaka, she left home at the age of five to begin studying traditional Japanese dance at the Iwasaki ''okiya'' (geisha house) in the Gion district of Kyoto. She was legally adopted by the okiya's owner, Madame Oima, and began using their family name of Iwasaki. She had been chosen as the house's ''atotori'', or heir. Iwasaki became a ''maiko'' (apprentice geiko) at age 15. She also received the name Mineko, as prescribed by a Japanese fortune-teller. By age 21, she had earned a reputation as Japan's best dancer and maiko. She officially became a geiko at this time and was officially known as Iwasaki Mineko. According to her autobiography, Iwasaki worked herself to her physical and mental limits. She developed a near-fatal kidney condition but recovered and made a strong re-entry into the geiko community. She entertained numerous celebrities and foreign dignitaries including United Kingdom's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles. Iwasaki's fame also made her the subject of jealousy and gossip, and she was sometimes faced with physical harassment when performing and in public. In her autobiography, she describes having to defend herself with a sharp piece of bamboo from a basket she was carrying when a group of men assaulted her on the street. After the death of one of her most significant mentors in 1980, Iwasaki became increasingly frustrated with the tradition-bound world of the geiko, especially inadequacies in the education system. Iwasaki unexpectedly retired at the height of her career, age 29. She hoped that her decision would shock Gion into reform; however, even after over 70 other ranking geiko emulated her retirement, nothing was changed. In her autobiography, Iwasaki speculates that she may have inadvertently doomed the profession. She transitioned to a career in art after she married an artist named Jin'ichirō Satō in 1982. Their only child, Kosuke, was born in 1983.〔("Conflicting Memories" ). ''People''. May 21, 2001.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mineko Iwasaki」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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