This book of Japanese poetry and lyrics explores a little-known style of Japanese song called Ko-Uta. A Ko-Uta is translated as "little song" in Japanese. Unfamiliar to most Westerners, ko-uta are particularly in tune with the tradition of Japan's Edo-era merchants. Some ko-uta are aesthetic, many are earthy. Ko-uta are sung to the accompaniment of the shamisen—a traditional, three-stringed Japanese lute. Ko-uta come to life when they are sung, and the best example of where they live is in the geisha world. To help give some idea of the geisha world, this Japanese music book has provided a complete score of one song. Readers with some experience with haiku and other forms of Japanese poetry will find that ko-uta share many things with those forms. Yet, ko-uta retain their own unique interest, making this book a fascinating addition to any collection of Japanese literature or art.

Traditional Japanese ko-uta are the musical embodiment of the Japanese geisha in the intoxicating "flower and willow world." Literally, these are "little songs" sung by a geisha who accompanies herself on the 3-stringed shamisen. Liza Dalby, an American who is fully trained in the arts of the geisha, is a magnificent guide who brings alive the spirit of this delightful musical form. This book presents beautiful calligraphy and vivid translations of 25 ko-uta, to which Dalby adds lively explanatory notes illuminating the puns and Japanese literary devices which might otherwise elude the Western reader. She also provides an intro. on the geisha and ko-uta. Also provides traditional musical notations for the shamisen as well as in standard Western form.

The author, an American anthropologist, describes her experiences during the year she spent as a Japanese geisha, and looks at the role of women, and geishas, in modern Japan

Discusses the geisha--practioners of music and dance and unmarried companions to the Japanese male elite.