Mineko Iwasaki (岩崎峰子 a.k.a. 岩崎究香, Iwasaki Mineko?), born Masako Tanaka (田中政子, Tanaka Masako?, born on November 2, 1949 in Kyoto), was Japan's number one geiko (geisha) until her sudden retirement at the age of 29. Arthur Golden later used her story to write the book Memoirs of a Geisha.

Geisha

Iwasaki left home to begin studying traditional Japanese dance at the Iwasaki okiya (geisha house) in the Gion district of Kyoto when she was only five years old. She was legally adopted by the okiya's owner, Madame Oima, and took on the family name Iwasaki. She had been chosen as the house's atotori, or heir. When Madame Oima became too old to run the business any longer, it would be Iwasaki's job to take over. Iwasaki became a maiko (apprentice geiko) at age 15. By age 21 she had earned a reputation as Japan's best dancer and maiko. She officially became a geiko at this time.

Iwasaki worked herself to her limit, both physically and mentally. She developed a kidney condition that nearly killed her, but recovered and made a strong re-entry into the geiko community. She entertained numerous celebrities and foreign dignitaries such as the United Kingdom's Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles. Her fame and success earned her many admirers, and she generally enjoyed life in the Iwasaki okiya. Yet her fame also made her the subject of jealousy and gossip, and she was sometimes faced with physical harassment both 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.

Iwasaki became frustrated with the tradition-bound world of the geiko, particularly what she saw as inadequacies in the education system, and unexpectedly retired at the height of her career. She had hoped that this would shock Gion into reform, but instead, many other ranking geiko emulated her and retired as well. In her autobiography, Iwasaki speculates that she may have inadvertently doomed the profession. She transitioned to a career in art and married an artist named Jinichiro Sato, had a daughter named Koko (sometimes called Kosuke because of her tomboyishness), and now lives in a suburb of Kyoto.