Awazumi Teahouse is an East Gion establishment that gives Sayuri a possible route back to Nobu after their relationship has been strained. Though she has no formal connection to the teahouse and cannot simply call on him there, its location and his regular visits shape her patient attempt to meet him again.

Location and Connection to Nobu

Takazuru tells Sayuri that Nobu is well, or at least that she thinks he is, and that he comes to Awazumi Teahouse quite often. Sayuri knows the place but had not known he visited it. The revelation turns the teahouse into more than a point on the map: it is the first practical clue that Nobu’s life still intersects with hers.

Takazuru’s own connection to Nobu is uneasy. She asks Sayuri for advice on how to please him, explaining that he likes stimulating conversation and that she does not know what to say. Sayuri suggests that Takazuru read about a historical event and tell Nobu the story in installments. The exchange reveals that Awazumi is also a setting for Nobu’s dealings with other women, and that Sayuri’s knowledge of him gives her an authority Takazuru seeks even as Sayuri hopes to restore her own place in his life.

Sayuri’s Attempt to Find Nobu

Sayuri wants to see Nobu because she feels ashamed of what she has done and sorry for making him angry. She also fears that without Nobu she may never see the Chairman again. Her wish to meet him therefore combines regret, concern for his pain, and the possibility that their friendship might resume; it is not simply a social visit.

Because Sayuri has no formal relationship with Awazumi, she cannot drop in uninvited. Instead, she decides to stroll past in the evenings, using her familiarity with Nobu’s habits to estimate when he might arrive. For eight or nine weeks she keeps to this plan, turning the teahouse’s regular traffic into an opportunity for an apparently chance encounter.

The Alleyway Encounter

At last, Sayuri sees Nobu emerging from the back of a limousine in the dark alleyway near Awazumi. His empty sleeve, pinned at the shoulder, makes his silhouette unmistakable. As the driver hands him his briefcase, Sayuri stops beneath a lantern and gives a small gasp meant to sound delighted, positioning their meeting as spontaneous despite the weeks of calculated waiting that preceded it.

Nobu looks toward her and remarks on how lovely a geisha can look, speaking so casually that Sayuri wonders whether he recognizes her. The encounter begins, then, in uncertainty: Awazumi has brought them within sight of each other, but the teahouse itself does not settle whether their former intimacy or friendship can be recovered.