Kiharu Nakamura

Kiharu Nakamura (中村 喜春, Nakamura Kiharu, April 14, 1913 – January 5, 2004) was an essayist and former geisha.

Biography

Nakamura was born on April 14, 1913 in Hokkaido[1] or Tokyo, Japan.[2] Her birth name was Kazuko Yamamoto.[1]

In 1929, she became a geisha at a geisha house in Shinbashi. She learned English, and gained a reputation the first English-speaking geisha.[3] Some of her clients included Babe Ruth, Jean Cocteau, and Charlie Chaplin.[3] Nakamura was also the first woman in Japan to get a pilot's license.[2]

She worked until 1940, when she married Shintaro Ota, a Japanese diplomat, and moved with him to Calcutta, India. Nakamura divorced Ota soon after giving birth to her son, and they returned to Japan in 1942.[2] She then married Masaya Nakamura, a photographer.[1]

After divorcing Masaya Nakamura in 1956, Nakamura moved to the United States. She consulted on many operas, books, and films about geisha life, including productions of Madame Butterfly and Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha.[1] Nakamura also worked to change misconceptions about geisha, who are often confused with oiran.[4][5] She lived in New York City until her death in 2004.

Selected bibliography
  • Nakamura, Kiharu (1983). Edokko geisha ichidaiki [Biography of an Edo geisha]. Soshisha. ISBN 9784794201775.
  • Nakamura, Kiharu (1985). ああ情なや日本 : 江戸っ子芸者の30年ぶりの日本. Soshisha. ISBN 9784794202239.
  • Nakamura, Kiharu (1987). あたしはアメリカが好き [I like America]. Soshisha. ISBN 9784794202789.

References
  1. Lavietes, Stuart (2004-01-18). "Kiharu Nakamura, 90, Geisha And Madama Butterfly Expert". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  2. "Kiharu Nakamura". The Telegraph. 2004-01-17. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  3. "Kiharu Nakamura | Japanese geisha". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  4. "Kiharu Nakamura, 90; Ex-Geisha Consulted, Wrote on Profession". Los Angeles Times. 2004-01-21. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  5. "Kiharu Nakamura". The Economist. 2004-01-22. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
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