Sayo Masuda is only twelve years old when she is sold to a geisha house and plunges into the brutal world of traditional Japanese entertainment. Behind the mask of the eternally smiling geisha lie broken lives: the training is harsh and inhumane, and rivalry and bullying prevail behind the scenes. Yet Sayo Masuda has succeeded: after years of humiliation and loneliness, she was able to leave her life as a geisha behind and build a new existence in freedom and self-determination. The woman who never truly learned to read and write wrote her very personal life story, offering unvarnished insights into the everyday lives of geishas, far removed from any exoticism.