Nobu

Nobu is a businessman and longtime friend of Sayuri whose generous acts are entangled with, but never fully explained by, the economics of geisha patronage. He is willing to spend money on her, bids aggressively for her mizuage, and later offers to become her danna; yet Sayuri understands that neither the bid nor the offer captures what he feels. His blunt disappointment when she chooses General Tottori makes him both a practical protector and the person whose friendship her pursuit of the Chairman finally costs.

Identity and Character

Nobu’s regard for Sayuri begins early: he remembers meeting her at the sumo tournament when she was about fourteen and recalls recognizing her resourcefulness. He describes her as talented and is willing to give gifts, though he resists the assumption that gifts make a man welcome among geisha. At one encounter he explains that Gion’s women may put up with nonsense so long as a man gives them presents, a remark that reveals his suspicion of the transactional conventions in which he himself participates.

His manner is direct, even abrasive, but his conduct repeatedly complicates any simple picture of him as merely a purchaser of access. He gives Sayuri an antique ornamental comb, presented in a wooden box lined with satin, and says he had meant to give it to her later. The Chairman watches the gift with wistful sadness and remarks on Nobu’s sentimentality. The exchange places Nobu’s generosity in view while leaving its emotional meaning unresolved: a gift can be a material benefit, an expression of attachment, and a gesture observed by a rival all at once.

Patronage and the Mizuage Bid

Sayuri learns from Mameha that her own wealth of kimono is largely the result of having a generous danna. Mameha contrasts her position with Hatsumomo’s, who has gone years without one, and explains that a danna is not a husband: geisha do not marry and continue working as geisha. In that world, patronage may provide costly clothing and other support, while the boundary between sponsorship and sexual access is negotiated through customs and transactions.

Nobu enters that system as a bidder for Sayuri’s mizuage, but the later account revises the apparent contest. He bids aggressively during the first few days, until the amount passes ¥8,000, then drops out. Sayuri’s retrospective narration stresses that the withdrawal did not necessarily mean the price had become too high. Mameha knew that Nobu could bid against anyone if he wished; what she had not anticipated was that he had only a vague interest in the mizuage itself. His affection and continuing attention therefore cannot be read as proof that he was pursuing that transaction.

The bidding also involves deception by omission. The mistress of the Ichiriki wants the price driven as high as possible and tells Dr. Crab that an offer has arrived from Osaka, allowing him to assume Nobu is still bidding when the offer actually comes from the Baron. Nobu’s early participation matters to the contest, but the eventual rival is the Baron, not Nobu. The distinction separates Nobu’s real willingness to spend from the scheme that uses the appearance of a contest to raise the price.

The Danna Offer and the Choice of Tottori

Years after the mizuage, Nobu’s familiarity and frequent invitations make him a plausible future danna. Sayuri admits that she expected he might propose, especially because he had bid for her mizuage and had sought her company more often than other men. When Mother says that Nobu Toshikazu has made an offer and that only a fool would reject it, Sayuri recognizes the possibility she had tried not to imagine: accepting would close off her hope of a life with the Chairman.

Instead, Sayuri becomes the danna of General Tottori. The arrangement changes less in her daily routine than a geisha might expect. She continues her evening rounds, and receives none of the anticipated lavish gifts, prominent recitals, or paid leisure. Yet Tottori’s alliance is materially valuable to the okiya: he covers expenses including lessons, registration, and medical costs, and his position as director of military procurement brings resources unavailable from an ordinary patron. When Auntie falls ill in March 1939, a telephone call to the General brings a doctor from the military hospital in Kamigyo Ward, whose medicine cures her. Regular deliveries of tea, sugar, and increasingly scarce chocolates also benefit the household.

Nobu’s response is a prolonged withdrawal rather than an immediate confrontation. Sayuri keeps seeing him at first and tries to behave as if nothing has changed, even as the middle of July passes without his expected negotiations bearing fruit. In the weeks that follow, his anger becomes visible: he passes the mistress of the Ichiriki without greeting her, drinks sake briskly, and watches Sayuri across a lively party. She imagines that he sees her as heartless and feels she has repaid his kindness with neglect. Their shared isolation amid the gathering is captured in her image of two wet spots surrounded by burning charcoal.

The consequences extend beyond their private friendship. During the fall when Tottori becomes Sayuri’s danna, Nobu stops inviting her to the parties where she had entertained him and ceases coming to the Ichiriki. He does not answer her New Year card. Without his patronage, she is no longer invited to Iwamura Electric’s parties and has little chance of seeing the Chairman. Thus the choice that protects Sayuri’s hope of the Chairman also removes an important route to him, while leaving Nobu feeling betrayed.

Confrontation and Failed Reconciliation

When Nobu eventually speaks with Sayuri, she asks what she has done to make an old friend so angry. He says that, after considerable effort, he has discovered the identity of her danna. His discovery has required asking around Gion; the geisha, true to their reputation for discretion, pretend not to know. He learns the truth only after arranging for Michizono to entertain him privately. His search shows that his separation from Sayuri has not ended his concern, even as it makes their encounter an accusation.

Nobu condemns her decision to tie her fortunes to Tottori. He says he would have taken proper care of her and fears the General will leave her nothing to remember him by. His anger is mixed with a judgment about wasted youth and a conviction that Sayuri has misunderstood her own destiny. Sayuri, usually guarded behind the polished surface Mameha taught her to maintain, can no longer conceal the pain his words cause. Nobu turns her face toward the light and asks why she seems so much older to him, then acknowledges that he has been harsh.

This moment preserves the contradiction in their relationship. Sayuri feels fondness and misses him, but she also admits that pity tinges her affection. Nobu’s offer of care is sincere in her account, yet she cannot accept it without relinquishing her attachment to the Chairman. The conflict is not resolved by affection alone: their competing expectations arise from the same history of kindness, patronage, and intimacy, but lead them toward incompatible futures.

Separation and Narrative Significance

Sayuri’s eventual relationship with the Chairman does not restore what her decision has damaged. She explains that winning the Chairman as a lover requires banishing Nobu from her life, and that the loss of Nobu’s friendship also helps drive her out of Gion. The Chairman is already married and will not marry her. To keep her from Nobu’s sight, he proposes that she leave her geisha career; Mother refuses to let her leave the Nitta household, since the okiya would lose its revenue. The settlement is a substantial monthly payment to the okiya in exchange for Sayuri ending her work.

Nobu’s place in Sayuri’s story is therefore not simply that of a rejected suitor. His gifts, bid, proposed patronage, and anger show how the material arrangements supporting her life carry personal obligations and emotional consequences. Her narration also distinguishes what she once believed from what she later understands: Nobu did bid, but not because he was determined to acquire her mizuage; he did offer to care for her, but she could not choose that future. The friendship becomes one of the costs of the life she had long imagined, while Nobu remains an enduring measure of the kindness and loyalty that ambition cannot preserve.