"I am indebted to one individual above all others. She was the source of much of the rich texture in the descriptions of "Memoirs of a Geisha," its author says. Mineko Iwasaki was a famous geisha in Kyoto's most prestigious geisha district until her retirement in 1980. She knows the years have left her beauty and elegance intact. That was her 28 years ago, she says, feigning embarrassment. The woman in the picture smiles wistfully as she closes the magazine. Her dress would be coveted in any age it falls in mesmerizing folds of gold-woven brocade, a finely embroidered silk belt wrapped around her tiny waist. Today? A century ago? Her painted white face gives no clue. The woman in the photograph peers over her shoulder with dark, somber eyes. KYOTO, Japan—The old magazine falls open to a page of timeless beauty.
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