Episode 23: Lisa Ling Goes Inside the Secret World of a Modern Geisha and a Real-Life Nunnery
They sent Lisa Ling, who will go anywhere, to Tokyo, to get the story. Sayuki tells Lisa all about her life as a gesiha. There used to be 42 districts, now there are 6. Her journey began when filming a documentary about geisha’s; the only way to capture the true essense of a geisha was to become one. She has a PhD in anthropology from Oxford and doesn’t feel that she has wasted her education by becoming a geisha.
For centuries geishas were highly paid companions to elite wealthy men. They had years of intense training, some starting in childhood. They perform elaborate duties with graceful precision; playing music, dancing, serving tea and charming conversation. Sayuki has never been asked to do anything she doesnt want to do as a geisha, she says that the idea that geisha’s are prostitutes for the right price is ridiculous. Today geishas still perform, mostly for businessmen and tourists. The rigorous training has been likened to becoming a doctor; Sayuki says that a geisha is an artist. Everyone knows to become a ballet dancer takes years of intense training, and becoming a geisha is the same. No other white woman has ever been a geisha, so Fiona trained for an intense year. In the beginning, you do everything that your geisha-mother tells you as you have no judgement. She thinks it takes years to get good judgement. They go to the Geisha District Office, and on the board are the names of the Geishas and the tea houses to show who is going where tonight. It is determined by the tea house owners, the customers or now the modern Geisha can be contacted through their website. The charge is around $350 for a minimum engagement. Much of Sayuki’s income is spent on expensive handwoven kimonos. $13,500 was the price on one of the kimonos that they look at.
Back in the studio, Lisa Ling joins Oprah. Sayuki is on the phone from her home in Tokyo. Oprah asks her how she was accepted as the first white woman. Sayuki grew up in Japan, she attended high school and university in Japan, and she worked there for a japanese company. She needed that background to get in. Oprah says she is among one of the ignorant people in the world that thought that there could be arrangement, if the price is right, that sex could be an option. Sayuki says that the Geisha is like a Hollywood actress, Geisha are women like any other, they fall in love and maybe have affairs, but it is never part of the job. No one accuses acttresses of being prostitutes just because they sometimes have affairs every now and again. Oprah says the role is to entertain and delight men. Sayuki says it means artist, and it is a private entertainment, much like Mozart would be called to entertain nobility. They perform to customers, not just men. Oprah asks why they are so alluring to the Japanese and the world. Sayuki says it’s the Japanese ideal of the perfect woman. The make up and kimono have been perfected over 400 years. It is breathtakingly beautiful to see a geisha in her full regalia for the first time. Oprah says so you dance and pour tea, is that it? Sayuki says there is also alcohol, not just tea. Some geisha would be upset if it was just tea.
Geisha means a person of the arts. For nearly 400 years it ws a highly coveted life for Japanese women They entertained the richest and most powerful men in Japan, some were even paid to meet a mans sexual desires. Elaborate hairstyles, exquisit kimonos and white make up with red lips; they were the embodiment of the perfect Japanese woman. They were renowned for their grace, intelligence, musical ability and beautiful dancing. They adhered to a strict code- no marriage, no eating in public and no revealing of your true age. 100 years ago there were 80,000 Geisha in Japan, today about 2000 remain.
It took Sayuki 3 years of strict training to master the Japanese artform. Oprah asks if it is painful to kneel- Sayuki says in the beginning it was hard. Oprah asks if there a way to pour tea that you learn? Is there a way to do it so a man wants you? The crowd laughs. Sayuki says it is an art. She demonstrates bowing, she does it whenever she meets her older sisters. Lisa Ling says it is incredible that Sayuki exists as if in 17th century Japan in modern Tokyo. Sayuki practices her instrument before the performance. A kimono expert of 50 years dresses her. There are 4 layers. She wears black contact lenses. She does get nervous, it’s like going on stage. Sayuki and 5 others were hired to perform at a banquet. Events like this give her the exposure she wants to become one of the top geishas. A performance like this is like stepping back in time. She usually travels by rickshaw around the geisha district. Sayuki wants to stress that sex is never, and has never been, part of the geisha tradition. She says that prostitution was banned in 1957 in Japan, and that geisha’s have never been part of it. Oprah says it is an exquistive culture.
Oprah first read Sayuki’s story in Marie Claire, their new issue is on the stands now, thank Marie-Claire.
As Oprah said earlier, Lisa Ling will go almost anywhere. Most convents did not want cameras in, when asked, so thank the lord for the Dominican Sisters of Mary outside Detroit. They opened their doors for Lisa and invited her to spend the night. They have a TV but it is only a luxury. The average age of the nuns is 26, the youngest is 18. Sister Mary Judith was told by God, she felt it in her heart. At 7pm, the bell signals the call to nightly prayer, the first 15 minutes are silent. Then prayers are chanted followed by a choreographed procession of youngest to oldest to the altar. For silence, the sisters go and study, or do duties. At 10pm they have profound silence which means no talking and everyone in their cell. The 100 cells (bedrooms) are cloistered which means no one from the outside world is allowed behind the door. We are the first. Their vow of poverty means no mirrors, they wear the habit all the time except for in bed. They say its very versatile. They say it is like a wedding ring, it means someone loves me, someone has claimed me, and that person is Christ. They dont need much.
The life of a nun means no children, sex, make-up, jewellry, possessions. Oprah asks, do think you could do that? Lisa got a great night sleep there and the sisters were some of the kindest people that she had met. Sister Mary Judith has been there for 5 years since she was 21. Sister Frances Mary got the calling at 22, 4 years ago. Oprah believes everyone has a calling in their life. Sister Frances Mary says she was dating a wonderful young man whose sister was a nun in her community. She felt a stirring. Sister Mary Judith was at a crisis point after 3 years in college. She grew up on a reservation in Saskatchewan. She encountered alot of drugs and wanted to save those who were drowning but wanted to also save herself. Oprah says lots of people have a crisis but don’t become nuns. For her, Sister Mary Judith felt God was calling in her emptiness. And she felt that she had to give all of herself to god. She didn’t ask alot of questions or visit before she entered. On her first day she thought what did I do? But she decided to get on with it. Oprah asks if there is a turn-back period? The first 7 years before you take your final vow you can question your decision. The first year you are a postulant, which means questioning. Many parents are upset when their girls become nuns.
There are more than 60,000 catholic nuns in the US, and 750,000 in the world. Chastity, poverty, and obedience to God and church are the strict vows taken. The nuns believe they are married to Christ, some even wear wedding rings. They wear a habit which they consider to be their wedding dress. Clositered nuns rarely leave the confines and pray up to 12 hours a day. Many nuns devote their lives to helping the poorest people, some choose an independent path, live alone go to college and even have careers. This week Lisa Ling went behind the walls of a thriving convent in Michigan. Oprah says our culture places such a value on things, and possessions and sex appeal; did they turn those messages off in their head? Sister Frances Mary says that the bombardment of imagery undermines the human dignity. She had to weed it out slowly. She grew up in a normal environment, without even God. Her boyfriend was shocked at first but very supportive. God takes care of everything and her former boyfriend is going to be ordained as a priest the same year that she makes her final vows. They wanted to get married, it was a struggle, they both cried, it was hard, they were in love. Oprah asks if she misses the affection of a man. She says she is still human, right, there is such a community and bonds of love between sisters, Jesus Christ is her spouse and God is Love (John 3:16). Love incarnate is her spouse. The habit represents the wedding gown, and that you’re married to christ, Oprah didn’t know that. Sister Mary Judith says that Christ is a really difficult person to be married to because if something goes wrong she knows its her fault. Everyone laughs, Oprah claps. Sister Mary Judith never thought she’d ever be this happy. Sister Frances Mary says they give their sexuality to Jesus which is beautiful gift, they don’t just give it to a thing or idea. Sister Mary Judith feels she has reclaimed her sexuality from an oversaturated sexualised world and she doesn’t want to be an object. Her sexuality is precious. Oprah interrupts to ask if they have any sexual urgings or feelings. Sister Mary Judith says it is a part of who they are, but not all they are. It’s like every craving we have that we don’t indulge all the time, like eating chocolate. Not eating chocolate all the time is not going to make her into a crazy person who is repressed. They use their desires for a greater calling or cause.
Lisa got up at 5am with the nuns, Sister Joseph Andrew, one of the founders is her tour guide. All meals are eaten in silence. Everyone has a job after beakfast. Sister Joseph Andrew uses her Balckbeerry to communciate by email with new recruits. The sisters play field hockey or soccer or basketball after lunch. They pull up their habits a little and wear sneakers. They are competitive. It can take up to 9 years to become a nun. Lisa sits down with the postulants who have been there for 5 months and haven’t yet earned the veil. Lisa aks how hard it was- it was hard to leave family, but a relief to leave behind Facebook and cellphones. The novices are the next level of nun. One speaks of the constant noise which gnaws at the human soul. Taking a religious life and vow of poverty gives her the silence she needs. The beautiful part of chastity means that you love more not less. Once sisters have taken their final vows they wear a black veil. Mother Assumpta, one of the founders, has been in the convent since she was 17. She hasn’t missed having children, God called her to this to be a spiritual mother.
Previously some of the nuns had other lives, one was a pharmacist, one was working in a fast food restaurant, one was engaged, but she had a longing in her heart. One was living the dream. Oprah also thought you had to have been a virgin to be a nun. Sister Maria says that it is possible to enter the convent by proving they have been living a chaste life and commit to living a chaste life in the future. She had a good life, which she enjoyed but it was superficial and empty, she was in the car business in New York. She says God is so good. Sister Maria Catherine joined at 27, she’d suspected she had a religious vocation for 5 years, but she was terrified. She ran out of all the reasons not to commit, she had to go and try it. Oprah says the best thing about being a nun is sensible shoes.
Oprah asks what happens if you break a vow, like if you go to Target and buy something. Sister Mary Judith says its an integrative away of life and even in married life women have the same vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. They can’t go where they want to go and they have to be spendthrift to support their families. Religious life is meant to mirror a human life of integration with the other. To break a vow means you’re not being true to yourself so you inflict your own punishment on yourself. Like if you know you are cheating on your husband, you inflict damage on yourself and others.
Sister Mary Samuel says that our culture is very challenging with its materialistic, secular nature. Its difficult for families and kids in schools. All our lives are a journey before God, and a religious life is a more intimate journey before God. They are freed from material things through the vows. Lisa Ling says she was surprised by the difference between the perception of nuns leading strict lives and the nuns that she met. Their lives are liberating now because they are not worried about being skinny enough when previously they always wanted more out of life. Oprah thanks the Dominican Sisters of Mary.
Oprah wants to make a difference in the number of lives lost by texting and talking on cell phones while we drive. Yesterday in a producers meeting, Oprah heard that Lisa drives with her knees and texts while she drives. Lisa admits it, she says she can’t lie in front of the sisters. She has done it, not alot, but she has. Oprah thanks her for being honest, but says she is stunned. Lisa is willing to say she’ll not text, but she’ll use a bluetooth which is legal in CA. Oprah says that’s not enough, she wants Lisa to go all the way infront of the sisters. She will not text and will encourage others to do the same. She will take half the pledge. People at home please take the whole pledge and at least give up texting. Goodbye everybody., thanks Lisa
WHAT WE LEARNED TODAY:
Paid sex is never, and has never been, part of the geisha tradition.
God takes care of everything.
The beautiful part of chastity means that you love more not less.
The habit represents the wedding gown, and that you’re married to Christ.
Nuns and geishas are just like us: they use email too.
A VERY QUICK SUMMARY:
Oprah says the best thing about being a nun is wearing sensible shoes.