The Chairman's kindness had inspired her to become a great geisha one day. We later learn in the story that he was the head of an electricity company. In Chiyo's teenage years, she worked under the guidance of one of the most well known geishas in Kyoto by the name of Mameha. This was when Chiyo's name had been changed to "Sayuri" after becoming Mameha's "younger sister," making Sayuri dependent of Mameha on the road to becoming a geisha. After attending many parties, and entertaining particular men, Sayuri's mizuage, virginity, was set at a record price. This made Hatsumomo extremely jealous, because the owner of their okiya adopted Sayuri as her "daughter," instead of Pumpkin, an apprentice geisha under Hatsumomo's guidance at the time. Sayuri continued working hard to become a geisha. She learns more and more about the arts of a geisha, such as dance and music, wearing layers of garments under a kimono, wearing elaborate make up, such as the "China Clay" (47), and hair styles, such as the "split peach" (163), and of course, the money that goes with the role of being a geisha.
Throughout the novel, we witness a transformation of Sayuri, into becoming a well-known and successful geisha. Some time afterwards, World War II erupted and the geisha houses were forced to close. This affected the income of Sayuri's okiya, and therefore, left her with little money and little food, also affecting her physical features as a geisha. The story goes on about how she had lived through those times, near the end of the war, worrying about what the future held, and if she would ever get back to being that geisha again, and especially if she would ever see the Chairman again, in whom she had fantasized a lot about throughout the book. By this time, Sayuri looked much like a peasant and not a geisha anymore. Some time three years after the end of the war, she worked her way back into being a geisha again; all the geisha districts in Japan had been reopened already by then.
