Set in the world of the geisha, Eiko, a sixteen-year old orphan who wishes to be taken in and trained, and Miyoharu, an older, more experienced geisha, who agrees to mentor the younger woman – live under the same roof in difficult personal circumstances.

Kenji Mizoguchi immediately followed the success of 1953’s Ugetsu with A Geisha, twisting his previous film Sisters of the Gion and its portrait of sisterhood for the contemporary postwar period. A fascinating film full of humanity, again exploring the subjugation of women in Japanese society.