When chiyo was asking of Hatsumomo owned the kimonos, she was told they belonged to the okiya. She was told they are made of tatsuma silk, which would take a lifetime to earn. How is this possible?? Surely the geisha have a large variety of kimonos to wear to geisha functions. Technically Hatsumomo or her predecessors couldn't earn enough even for one kimono, and that's not even including all of the other okiya expenses.
shareThe financial end of things is more thoroughly explained in the book, but it would be affordable to a top-tier geisha if she were allowed to keep all the fees she earned. There are also kickbacks from tea houses and retailers. Mameha was a rarity, no longer being associated with an okiya, but a star geisha, usually the daughter of the okiya, earned a great deal of money. However, as the daughter of the okiya she never personally saw any of it; everything went to the okiya. This was considered acceptable because eventually the daughter would inherit the okiya and everything in and associated with it. A regular geisha kept a portion of her fees but the majority went to the okiya. In return the okiya not only provided nearly all kimono, they also had room and board and all other expenses covered. When a geisha wanted to buy anything, she went to the preferred shop and got it. The okiya was billed for everything. Also, any gift from a client was that geisha's personal property. The gifts ran from hair ornaments and expensive perfumes to extremely valuable jewels and jewelry. Occasionally they were given an expensive kimono, but a gift like that was usually reserved for the binding ceremony of geisha and danna. The okiya Sayuri was raised in was considered very rich in its heyday. Hatsumomo was the second-highest paid geisha in the district; her skill and beauty made her unpleasantness tolerable. Until Sayuri came along, the only geisha who commanded higher fees than Hatsumomo was Mameha.
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