Sayuri counters Hatsumomo at her first banquet

Sayuri counters Hatsumomo at her first banquet when a debutant’s vulnerable silence becomes the opening for a public contest of wit. At the Komoriya Teahouse, Hatsumomo tries to make Sayuri the butt of a crude joke; Sayuri’s quick response wins the room’s laughter and punctures Hatsumomo’s control of the exchange. The victory is brief and costly: Hatsumomo later confronts Sayuri at the okiya, slaps her, and vows to repay the humiliation.

First Appearance in Public

The evening begins after Sayuri has spent the day working hard. Back at the okiya, Auntie helps her undress and allows her a half-hour nap. Once awake, Sayuri hurries to the bathhouse; by five o’clock she has dressed and applied her makeup. Her excitement comes from watching Hatsumomo, and more recently Pumpkin, leave the okiya for their engagements: now Sayuri, too, is going out into the world as a novice.

Her first engagement is a formal banquet at the Kansai International Hotel. The guests sit around a large tatami room in a U-shaped arrangement, with food set before them on small stands, while geisha circulate inside the open center to pour sake and converse briefly with each guest. Sayuri’s place in this social scene is deliberately limited. She remains beside Mameha like a shadow, repeats a formal introduction, and otherwise says nothing; no one speaks to her. The banquet gives her a public setting, but not yet an independent voice.

Near the end, Mameha and another geisha perform Chi-yo no Tomo, or “Friends Everlasting,” a dance about two devoted women reunited after a long separation. The company executives gathered for their annual banquet seem inattentive, but Sayuri watches closely. She is entranced by Mameha’s fan work: a closed fan, delicately moved as Mameha turns, suggests flowing water; opened, it becomes a cup into which her companion pours sake. The dance offers Sayuri a striking contrast to her own silent role. Mameha commands attention through practiced movement, while the novice is still learning how to occupy a room.

From Formal Banquet to Teahouse Party

By eight o’clock the banquet is over. Sayuri is about to thank Mameha and say good night when Mameha invites her to continue to the Komoriya Teahouse for her first informal party. Sayuri is tired, but swallows her true feelings and follows. Mameha explains that the host runs the National Theater in Tokyo and knows important geisha throughout Japan. Sayuri should not expect him to say much to her; her task is to look pretty and alert and avoid doing anything that could make her look bad.

The advice defines the narrow terms of Sayuri’s first public appearance: she is being introduced to influential company, yet she has little permission to speak or act for herself. At the party, she accompanies Mr. Snowshowers to the toilet and back, although that errand is ordinarily expected of an apprentice rather than a novice. Returning to the room, she finds that another geisha and an apprentice have arrived. Only after she has followed Mr. Snowshowers around the table and resumed her place does she see their faces: one is Hatsumomo, smiling at her, and beside her sits Pumpkin.

Hatsumomo’s Mockery and Sayuri’s Reply

Hatsumomo turns Sayuri’s inexperience into material for the party. She tells a story about a woman called Mayuri being blown along the street, knocked onto a car, and exposed when the wind blows up her kimono. She makes the story increasingly explicit, and the men respond with laughter. The episode is not merely an exchange of jokes: Hatsumomo is directing the room’s attention and testing whether Sayuri can be made to look foolish in front of an audience.

She then asks about Sayuri’s age and comments that Sayuri has no hair. When Sayuri is prompted to make a high-pitched sound, she tries, but Hatsumomo cuts her off and tells the man beside her that Sayuri is not very bright. The scene sets up a familiar imbalance: Hatsumomo has the confidence and standing to steer the conversation, while Sayuri is expected to follow instructions and absorb the ridicule.

Sayuri breaks that pattern with a concise answer: “Oh, but I do. A good deal of it!” She pats the hair on her head. The gesture answers Hatsumomo’s insinuation literally and turns its implication back on her. The men laugh harder than they had at Hatsumomo’s story. Hatsumomo laughs too, apparently to avoid looking as if the joke has landed against her. Sayuri’s response is small in scale, but decisive in the room: for the first time that evening, the attention shifts from the older geisha’s performance to the novice’s timing.

Retaliation and Significance

Mameha leaves with Sayuri after the laughter dies down, and Hatsumomo and Pumpkin follow them out. Mameha looks satisfied; she relishes the prospect of seeing Hatsumomo destroyed. The reaction makes clear that Sayuri’s answer is more than an isolated joke to her mentor: it is a first sign that Hatsumomo’s power to define every public encounter can be challenged.

The immediate consequence comes later that night. After bathing and removing her makeup, Sayuri stands in the okiya’s formal entrance hall answering Auntie’s questions about her day. Hatsumomo returns unusually early and confronts her. With her lips pressed together, she draws back her hand and slaps Sayuri across the face. Sayuri is too stunned to remember what happens immediately afterward, but hears Hatsumomo threaten to slap the other side of her face if Sayuri embarrasses her in public again.

When Sayuri asks what she did, Hatsumomo explains that Sayuri understood the implication of the hair remark but made her look like a fool. She promises to return the favor. Hatsumomo then leaves, with Pumpkin waiting outside to bow to her. Sayuri reports the confrontation to Mameha the following afternoon, though Mameha pays little attention. The exchange therefore ends without a lasting triumph: Sayuri has demonstrated that she can answer a public attack, but her success brings private violence and a direct threat of revenge. The scene establishes the pattern of their rivalry—Hatsumomo’s attempt to control Sayuri through humiliation, Sayuri’s emerging capacity to improvise, and the punishment that follows when the novice briefly takes command of the room.