Book Review: A Woman of Pleasure by Kiyoko Murata

A book based on 'Shinimone Strike' where a bunch of Japanese prostitutes protested for better working conditions in 1904.

Prostitution is said to be one of the earliest surviving professions. In several cultures, prostitutes form an integral part of society. In Japan, it's a complex cultural heritage that has contributed several nuanced contributions to art, politics, and most essentially, the economics of the land. At the turn of the nineteenth century, even when several laws were present that were supposed to make the lives of women who engaged in it easier, powerful brothel owners exerted pressure on the government and the police to continue their brutal exploitation of poor girls. 'Shininome Strike' is an incident where many prostitutes of a prestigious brothel conducted a strike, inspired by another one organized by shipyard workers. 

Though we don't have many particulars of the incident and how the future turned out for those who participated in it, Japanese author Kiyoko Murata, in her brilliant award-winning novel 'A Woman of Pleasure', re-creates a version of the incidents. The novel is the dazzling tale of a fifteen-year-old girl sold by her impoverished parents and how she negotiates her life inside the Shininome brothel. I received a review copy of the book from its publisher, Footnote Press, through Netgalley in exchange for honest feedback. 

It's 1903 Japan when the uncivilized island girl Aoi Ichi is sold by her parents to the prestigious Shininome brothel. The brothel owner, realizing her true potential, makes her train under the highest-ranking courtesan, the oiran, the beautiful and elegant Shinonome. She learns that seducing is only a part of her profession. She also gets trained in reading and writing at the Female Industrial School for prostitutes. Writing is necessary for drafting alluring love letters and invitations to patrons, but knowledge of numbers and math helps to keep account of their debt with the brothel. The news of a strike among the shipyard workers gives her and her colleagues new ideas. 

What I liked best about 'A Woman for Pleasure' is the extraordinary vitality it displays. It takes immense talent to display such liveliness and spirited energy while portraying nauseatingly oppressive and exploitative conditions. Though the book is told from the point of view of an innocent teenage girl who is tangled in the manipulative webs of trafficking and prostitution, its political acumen is immense. Though it's historical fiction, we realize that today also our society runs with the same exploitative method that forces its victims to jump into the quagmire of debt, getting indebted to powerful forces. 

Based on true events, the book 'A Woman for Pleasure' is a stunning portrayal of feminine bonding during harsh times and an important call for pursuing the quest for freedom. Also commendable is the able translation by Juliet Winters Carpenter, which never gives the readers a feeling of reading a translated edition. The best thing about the recent influx of translated works from Japan that has flooded the market with saccharine themes and covers adorned with images of cats (which do not at all feature in at least one book that I read) is the interest of publishers to introduce better and older works and capitalize on the trend. For example, it took more than ten years to come up with a translation of this excellent novel, which was published in Japan as early as 2013.