Liza Dalby
Encyclopedia
Liza Crihfield Dalby is an American anthropologist and novelist specializing in Japanese culture. For her graduate studied, Dalby studied and performed fieldwork in Japan of the geisha
community which she wrote about in her Ph.D dissertation. Since that time she has written five books. Her first book, Geisha, was based on her early research. The next book, Kimonos is about traditional Japanese clothing and the history of the kimono
. She followed that with a fictional account of the Heian era noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu
, titled The Tale of Murasaki. In 2007 she wrote a memoir
, East Wind Melts the Ice, which was followed two years later by a second work of fiction, Hidden Buddhas.
Dalby is considered an expert in the study of the Japanese geisha community and has acted as consultant to novelist Arthur Golden
and film-maker Rob Marshall
for the novel Memoirs of a Geisha
and the film of the same name
. She attends conferences about Japanese literature and corresponds regularly with scholars of the Japanese Heian period.
community, as part of her anthropology fieldwork. Dalby's research, done as part of her Ph.D studies at Stanford University
, was presented in her dissertation, and became the basis for her first book, Geisha, about the culture of the geisha community. Her study, which included interviews with more than 100 geisha, was considered to be excellent and received praise from scholars at the time of publication, although retrospective scholarship is more critical. During her Ph.D studies about the geisha community, conducted in Pontochō
, she was invited to join a house in Kyoto
where she was allowed to debut as a geisha under the name Ichigiku—in part because she was fluent in Japanese and skilled with the samisen. She performed at ozashiki as a geisha, without charging money, and from the experience formed friendships and relationships with other geisha in the district.
's Pontochō
district. Because of her expertise in the subject, Arthur Golden
asked for her to act as a consultant when he wrote Memoirs of a Geisha
, and later Rob Marshall
, director of the 2005 film adaptation
starring Zhang Ziyi
, consulted with her. In the book she writes about the life of geisha and how the world is based on tightly knit and hierarchical society of women. She presents the history of the geisha community, explores the context in which geisha traditionally were in the forefront of fashion although that is no longer true for the modern geisha.
s, called Kimono: Fashioning Culture. In an interview with Salon.com, she explains that in 11th century Japanese court
literature, women authors such as Murasaki Shikibu
wrote lengthy descriptions of kimonos in their work. Dalby believes, that from an anthropological point-of-view, the dress of the period must be taken seriously and she strives to understand the symbolism represented in the layering of clothing, often described in texts such as Murasaki's The Tale of Genji
. In the book Dalby presents essays about the social symbolism of the kimono, going back to the 12th century when an Empress had to choose a multi-layered kimono based on mood, season, and social event, without making a mistake in color or style, moving all to the present with an essay about modern Japanese women who wear kimonos.
poet, whose work The Tale of Genji is considered a classic, was published in 2000. Dalby says that she decided to write a fictional account of Murasaki's life because she "couldn't contribute anything scholarly". Fascinated by the 11th century Heian period court culture, she wove much of it into the book: writing about the clothing the women wore; the love affairs they had; the manner in which poetry
was frequently exchanged; and that women lived in seclusion, behind screens, with their faces often unseen by lovers. Dalby explains that the geisha society did not develop until at least 500 years later, and that a court lady-in-waiting
such as Murasaki would not have had the temperament to be a geisha because Murasaki was reserved, whereas geisha are expected to be outgoing.
, East Wind Melts the Ice: A Memoir through the Seasons, published in 2007. In the book she follows the a system of time derived in ancient China in which a year is divided into 72 five day periods. She claims the concept has affected her sense of time. The memoir consists of 72 vignettes
, with lower case titles, such as "chrysanthemums are tinged yellow". According to the The New York Times
Sunday Book Review, Dalby sees herself as eccentric, reflected in her writing, where she presents unusual yet interesting material. In the book she weaves together experiences from Japan, China and northern California, and "presents a wealth of information". Dalby received praise from Booklist
for the manner in which she uses stream-of-consciousness to create a work in which the eastern concept of time is contrasted with the western; her ability to see with an anthropologist's eye and yet to bring an imaginative and creative view to this work; and in particular to bring together the various places she has lived, from Kyoto, where she was the first western woman to become a geisha in the 1970s, to northern California where she currently lives.
) in Japanese Buddhist temples.
Geisha
, Geiko or Geigi are traditional, female Japanese entertainers whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance.-Terms:...
community which she wrote about in her Ph.D dissertation. Since that time she has written five books. Her first book, Geisha, was based on her early research. The next book, Kimonos is about traditional Japanese clothing and the history of the kimono
Kimono
The is a Japanese traditional garment worn by men, women and children. The word "kimono", which literally means a "thing to wear" , has come to denote these full-length robes...
. She followed that with a fictional account of the Heian era noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu
Murasaki Shikibu
Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court during the Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1012...
, titled The Tale of Murasaki. In 2007 she wrote a memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
, East Wind Melts the Ice, which was followed two years later by a second work of fiction, Hidden Buddhas.
Dalby is considered an expert in the study of the Japanese geisha community and has acted as consultant to novelist Arthur Golden
Arthur Golden
Arthur Golden is an American writer. He is the author of the bestselling novel Memoirs of a Geisha .Golden is a member of the Ochs-Sulzberger family . He was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, grew up on Lookout Mountain, Georgia, and attended Lookout Mountain Elementary School in Lookout Mountain,...
and film-maker Rob Marshall
Rob Marshall
Rob Marshall is an American theater director, film director and choreographer. He is a six-time Tony Award nominee, Academy Award nominee, Golden Globe nominee and four-time Emmy winner whose most noted work is the 2002 Academy Award for Best Picture winner Chicago.-Life and career:Marshall was...
for the novel Memoirs of a Geisha
Memoirs of a Geisha
Memoirs of a Geisha is a novel by American author Arthur Golden, published in 1997. The novel, told in first person perspective, tells the fictional story of a geisha working in Kyoto, Japan, before and after World War II...
and the film of the same name
Memoirs of a Geisha (film)
Memoirs of a Geisha is a 2005 film adaptation of the novel of the same name, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and Spyglass Entertainment and by Douglas Wick's Red Wagon Productions. It was directed by Rob Marshall. It was released in the United States on December 9, 2005 by...
. She attends conferences about Japanese literature and corresponds regularly with scholars of the Japanese Heian period.
Background
As a high school student Dalby visited Japan in a student exchange program; there she learned to play the samisen. In 1975, she returned to Japan for a year to research the geishaGeisha
, Geiko or Geigi are traditional, female Japanese entertainers whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance.-Terms:...
community, as part of her anthropology fieldwork. Dalby's research, done as part of her Ph.D studies at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, was presented in her dissertation, and became the basis for her first book, Geisha, about the culture of the geisha community. Her study, which included interviews with more than 100 geisha, was considered to be excellent and received praise from scholars at the time of publication, although retrospective scholarship is more critical. During her Ph.D studies about the geisha community, conducted in Pontochō
Pontocho
Pontochō is a Hanamachi district in Kyoto, Japan, known for geisha and home to many geisha houses and traditional tea houses. Like Gion, Pontochō is famous for the preservation of forms of traditional architecture and entertainment.-Etymology:...
, she was invited to join a house in Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
where she was allowed to debut as a geisha under the name Ichigiku—in part because she was fluent in Japanese and skilled with the samisen. She performed at ozashiki as a geisha, without charging money, and from the experience formed friendships and relationships with other geisha in the district.
Geisha
Her first non-fiction book, Geisha (filmed as American Geisha), is based on her experiences with the geisha community in KyotoKyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
's Pontochō
Pontocho
Pontochō is a Hanamachi district in Kyoto, Japan, known for geisha and home to many geisha houses and traditional tea houses. Like Gion, Pontochō is famous for the preservation of forms of traditional architecture and entertainment.-Etymology:...
district. Because of her expertise in the subject, Arthur Golden
Arthur Golden
Arthur Golden is an American writer. He is the author of the bestselling novel Memoirs of a Geisha .Golden is a member of the Ochs-Sulzberger family . He was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, grew up on Lookout Mountain, Georgia, and attended Lookout Mountain Elementary School in Lookout Mountain,...
asked for her to act as a consultant when he wrote Memoirs of a Geisha
Memoirs of a Geisha
Memoirs of a Geisha is a novel by American author Arthur Golden, published in 1997. The novel, told in first person perspective, tells the fictional story of a geisha working in Kyoto, Japan, before and after World War II...
, and later Rob Marshall
Rob Marshall
Rob Marshall is an American theater director, film director and choreographer. He is a six-time Tony Award nominee, Academy Award nominee, Golden Globe nominee and four-time Emmy winner whose most noted work is the 2002 Academy Award for Best Picture winner Chicago.-Life and career:Marshall was...
, director of the 2005 film adaptation
Memoirs of a Geisha (film)
Memoirs of a Geisha is a 2005 film adaptation of the novel of the same name, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and Spyglass Entertainment and by Douglas Wick's Red Wagon Productions. It was directed by Rob Marshall. It was released in the United States on December 9, 2005 by...
starring Zhang Ziyi
Zhang Ziyi
Zhang Ziyi is a Chinese film actress. Zhang is coined by the media as one of the Four Young Dan actresses in the Film Industry in China, along with Zhao Wei, Xu Jinglei, and Zhou Xun...
, consulted with her. In the book she writes about the life of geisha and how the world is based on tightly knit and hierarchical society of women. She presents the history of the geisha community, explores the context in which geisha traditionally were in the forefront of fashion although that is no longer true for the modern geisha.
Kimono
Geisha was followed by a book about kimonoKimono
The is a Japanese traditional garment worn by men, women and children. The word "kimono", which literally means a "thing to wear" , has come to denote these full-length robes...
s, called Kimono: Fashioning Culture. In an interview with Salon.com, she explains that in 11th century Japanese court
Heian period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height...
literature, women authors such as Murasaki Shikibu
Murasaki Shikibu
Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court during the Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1012...
wrote lengthy descriptions of kimonos in their work. Dalby believes, that from an anthropological point-of-view, the dress of the period must be taken seriously and she strives to understand the symbolism represented in the layering of clothing, often described in texts such as Murasaki's The Tale of Genji
The Tale of Genji
is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...
. In the book Dalby presents essays about the social symbolism of the kimono, going back to the 12th century when an Empress had to choose a multi-layered kimono based on mood, season, and social event, without making a mistake in color or style, moving all to the present with an essay about modern Japanese women who wear kimonos.
The Tale of Murasaki
Dalby's The Tale of Murasaki, a fictional biography of Murasaki Shikibu, an 11th century courtHeian Palace
The Heian Palace was the original imperial palace of Heian-kyō , the capital of Japan, from 794 to 1227. In Japan, this palace is called Daidairi...
poet, whose work The Tale of Genji is considered a classic, was published in 2000. Dalby says that she decided to write a fictional account of Murasaki's life because she "couldn't contribute anything scholarly". Fascinated by the 11th century Heian period court culture, she wove much of it into the book: writing about the clothing the women wore; the love affairs they had; the manner in which poetry
Waka (poetry)
Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...
was frequently exchanged; and that women lived in seclusion, behind screens, with their faces often unseen by lovers. Dalby explains that the geisha society did not develop until at least 500 years later, and that a court lady-in-waiting
Lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...
such as Murasaki would not have had the temperament to be a geisha because Murasaki was reserved, whereas geisha are expected to be outgoing.
East Wind Melts the Ice
She then wrote a memoirMemoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
, East Wind Melts the Ice: A Memoir through the Seasons, published in 2007. In the book she follows the a system of time derived in ancient China in which a year is divided into 72 five day periods. She claims the concept has affected her sense of time. The memoir consists of 72 vignettes
Vignette (literature)
In theatrical script writing, sketch stories, and poetry, a vignette is a short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting and sometimes an object...
, with lower case titles, such as "chrysanthemums are tinged yellow". According to the The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Sunday Book Review, Dalby sees herself as eccentric, reflected in her writing, where she presents unusual yet interesting material. In the book she weaves together experiences from Japan, China and northern California, and "presents a wealth of information". Dalby received praise from Booklist
Booklist
Booklist is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. It is geared toward libraries and booksellers and is available in print or online...
for the manner in which she uses stream-of-consciousness to create a work in which the eastern concept of time is contrasted with the western; her ability to see with an anthropologist's eye and yet to bring an imaginative and creative view to this work; and in particular to bring together the various places she has lived, from Kyoto, where she was the first western woman to become a geisha in the 1970s, to northern California where she currently lives.
Hidden Buddhas
Dalby's second novel, Hidden Buddhas: A Novel of Karma and Chaos, was published in 2009, in which she returns to writing fiction. In this book, set in modern-day Japan, Paris, and California, she writes a story set against the backdrop of the concept of hibutsu (secret Buddha statuesBuddharupa
Buddharūpa is the Sanskrit and Pali term used in Buddhism for statues or models of the Buddha.-Commonalities:...
) in Japanese Buddhist temples.
Sources
- Bardsley, Jan. "Liza Dalby's Geisha: The View Twenty-Five Later". (2009) Southeast Review of Asian Studies. Volume 31.