Sayo Masuda Biography

Autobiography of a Geisha (芸者、苦闘の半生涯, Geisha, kutō no hanshōgai, literally Geisha, Half a Lifetime of Pain and Struggle) is a book by Sayo Masuda (増田 小夜, Masuda Sayo). It was first published in Japan in 1957, and the English translation by G. G. Rowley was published in 2003. Masuda wrote her autobiography between the years of 1956 and 1957 in response to a magazine ad for a non-fiction women's writing competition. She had never learned to read more than hiragana and wrote her entire book in it. Her editors carefully worked to convert her work into standard kanji while preserving the feeling of her original writing.