Customer Reviews

Geisha: The Life, the Voices, the Art

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having lived in Kyoto, the geisha capital ofJapan, for the past seven years, I found this book a typical "take what you can get from Japan and run without thinking about all the bridges you burned". I think this book has some technically fine shots but a foreign reader does not know what they are looking at because of the lack of captions to explain the photographs. [...]As for some of the shots, mostly taken in one geisha district(Miyagawa-cho), I think that she used poor judgement when publishing them. The shots such as "cigarette smoking geisha" "bathing women" and the many other unflattering shots of the women who ALLOWED her into to their world. [...] In every part of any culture there are the not so beautiful images behind the scenes that are sometimes witnessed by outsiders but that doesn't mean it is okay to publish such photos without thinking of the images of the parties involed. [...]image and beauty is a very important asset for the women involved. The other unwritten rule, which she even mentions in her very biased text, is that what goes on behind the doors of the teahouses is to stay behind the doors. [...]What a waste of some good introductions to this secret world and thank goodness that it hasn't been printed in Japanese for the geisha and customers from the other districts to see.

Subtitled, "The Life, the Voices, the Art," this book of exquisite photographs by Jodi Cobb, a National Geographic photographer depicts both the public and the private moments of traditional geisha in modern-day Kyoto and Tokyo. A hundred year ago, there were more than 80,000 traditional geisha in Japan; today there are less a thousand. This vanishing way of life, captured in both words and photographs, will introduce the realities of the very special world to the western reader. We learn the history and understand the fantasy. We see the faces with and without makeup, including some stirring photos of elderly geisha with their white makeup emphasizing every line in their faces. And we hear their voices as they share their life stories. This isn't fiction. This is real. There are 77 full color photographs in this 11.5 x 10.5" book that is just 114 pages long. I read it one sitting, thirsting for more. Highly recommended.

Jodi Cobb's "Geisha" is stunning. It is stunning visually, which anyone can see just leafing casually through it. But it is also a stunning journalistic accomplishment. This is not the first time Cobb has gone behind the closed doors of female society. She did a story for National Geographic, where she is a staff photographer, on Arab women. Like the Geisha book, it was an intimate and loving look at the lives of women usually hidden from us behind veils. The Geisha book gives us way more than the superficial beauty shots that usually pass for a look at Geisha life. We see them (quite literally) with their hair down. Which is, after all, what good journalism does. Enjoy the book just for the art if you like. Cobb takes photos with handheld, 35mm cameras using nothing but available light and makes them look like the work of a Flemish master. But also know that you are getting a glimpse of a world few women -- and no men -- can ever know.

Jodi Cobb's photographs of the Geishas were gorgeous. She showed the reader rare moments not seen to the public eye like a maiko sleeping or two young geishas reading a magazine together. The reader also gets to see geishas in the middle of getting dressed and putting on makeup. It's these intimate moments that makes this book stand out. The reader gets to see glimpses of young and old geishas that other geisha books don't show.

My biggest beef with this book is that it looks like it was thrown together at the last second. My least favorite were the single quotes that starts from the middle of the page and until the end. "What was the point of those quotes?" I wondered. I really did enjoy the introduction and the backgrounds of two geisha mothers. I wished that through out the book there was more information about geishas. The lack of gave me the impression that Jodi didn't put in enough research but that's just my impression. In the end I did enjoy the book but there were many opportunities for Jodi to have made this book even better.

Here you have the pictorial part of a geisha tryptich- the other two pieces being Memoirs of a Geisha by Golden (a story) and Geisha by Dalby (a documentary with some black and white photos).

I can remember the first time my eyes viewed a geisha- on the cover of a National Geographic Magazine in 1987, a closely cropped picture of a maiko's mouth as she delicately poised a piece of tofu, with chopsticks, between her lips. Years later, I read Memoirs of a Geisha, and liked it so much, I bought the hardcover version of it. (Mind you, I'm a bookseller, and can check out books from work for free).

Intigued, I bought Geisha by Liza Dalby, and most recently bought Jodi Cobb's book.

Cobb's photos, in most cases, have an honesty about them. One of the very first photographs (in fact, THE first, besides the cover photo) is of an older geisha in full makeup. her wrinkled skin, jowled neck, and droopy eyes and lips are a far cry from what most readers of "Memoirs" imagined geisha to be like, I suspect. She's no Hatsumomo...though you feel the dedication- to be a geisha is not just a whim of youth (as if to be a tue geisha could be accomplished out of whim), but as a life calling.

Another great thing about Cobb's photographs are that they are not just Glamour Shot-like poses throughout. Often, she photographs a geisha from behind, hiding her face. She also shows geisha in unguarded moments of candor, such as the picture of three geisha laughing, or geisha bathing, looking like any Japanese woman.

Of course, there are the glamourous photos we want to see. We see a geisha poised in a theater row (I think I'd rather see a movie with her than most fellow Americans); a picture of geisha in performance, in an elegant pose with fans; a geisha ready to cross the street; and two geisha poised, looking at an astrology book.

I did find some photos to be a bit silly, such as the picture of a nude man bent over, with a geisha in full regalia at his feet, peering down, in front of a group of drinking buddies (I'm sure feminists would love this one). Yet, as Golden and Dalby point out, a geisha's life isn't all glamour and poise.

I'm sure most people fascinated by Golden and Dalby's books would enjoy this one.

P.S.- I laughed when I saw the drag queenish picture of a wigless geisha in full makeup daintily smoking a cigarrette!

I commend the author for publishing these pictures notwithstanding the criticism she received from another reviewer for doing so. Those interested in looking into this world were hungry for this information. I do agree with the previous reviewer, however, that the book should have contained explanatory captions and information in the context of the photographs. I wanted to know the story behind the photograph, and this was lacking.

I could be completely wrong, but was anyone else irritated by the fact that the photos with more sexual connotation in this book, seemed to be of courtesans, and NOT Geisha.

At least according to the differentiations made in costume between the two in Liz Dalby's book "Geisha" (front tied obi)

Otherwise gorgeous photographs. But I was curious if anyone else caught that.

This book is absolutely beautiful. Not a whole lot of information, but the scenes depicted are a window into a world closed to most everyone. The quotes from the Geisha are quite interesting, as well.

This is a fabulous book about a secret and vanishing world few of us will ever experience firsthand. After reading Kobb's article in National Geographic Magazine, I had to buy this book. The photographs are wonderful, and the accompanying interviews with various Geishas and clients give the reader a glimpse of what Geisha life is all about.

I was really looking for a book with very detailed photographs of geisha and their kimono and hairstyles (each represents something different, such as seasons etc.) for illustration reference purposes, but this book kind of fell short. A handful of photos are absolutley gorgeous, but a few are a little akward. Many are out of focus and there are several of older women bathing... I think many people can enjoy this book, it all depends on what you are looking for.