US Premier of “The Last Geisha: Madame Minako” Japanese Documentary Film (with English subtitles) followed by a brief presentation by the filmmaker, Professor Makoto Yasuhara.
Professor Yasuhara spent six years documenting and learning about the life of a geisha ("practitioner of the arts"), Madame Minako, who performed the traditional arts of singing and dancing for 80 years until her death in 2010 at age 90. Madame Minako was the last geisha to have worked in Yoshiwara, the exclusive licensed pleasure quarter in the city of Edo. Yoshiwara kept its name and fame as Edo because Tokyo in modern times, until its closure after the Pacific War. Through the remarkable life of Madame Minako, the film captures the history of Yoshiwara along with the "gei" (performance art) of old Japan that geisha helped preserve.
Sponsored by: The Japan Foundation and the University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, Departments of History, Asian Languages and Cultures, and Women’s Studies.
Professor Yasuhara spent six years documenting and learning about the life of a geisha ("practitioner of the arts"), Madame Minako, who performed the traditional arts of singing and dancing for 80 years until her death in 2010 at age 90. Madame Minako was the last geisha to have worked in Yoshiwara, the exclusive licensed pleasure quarter in the city of Edo. Yoshiwara kept its name and fame as Edo because Tokyo in modern times, until its closure after the Pacific War. Through the remarkable life of Madame Minako, the film captures the history of Yoshiwara along with the "gei" (performance art) of old Japan that geisha helped preserve.
Sponsored by: The Japan Foundation and the University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, Departments of History, Asian Languages and Cultures, and Women’s Studies.
Cost
- This screening is free and open to the public.
Co-Sponsored By
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