Chiyo is a young girl from Yoroido, a small fishing village, who is sold by her father, through Tanaka, into slavery in Kyoto, in the geisha district of Gion, where she is taken in by Auntie in the Nitta Okiya. There she meets a girl who she nicknames Pumpkin due to her round face and how she sticks her tounge. In the movie, Pumpkin has her name before her arrival. She aspires to be a geisha, and convinces Chiyo to be a geisha too(who refuses at first). Together, they attend geisha classes and she tries to convince Pumpkin to run away with her and Satsu. However, her new friend refuses her offer since it would dishonor the Nitta Okiya and told her about her uncle who brought her to the okiya. She tells Chiyo that she would much rather have a home where she can live out the rest of her life and work hard to keep it.During the time, Chiyo comes across the Nitta Okiya's only resident geisha, Hatsumomo. Right away, she's impressed by her beauty, but she is soon repulsed on how she treats the others. However, Hatsumomo feels threatened by Chiyo because of her natural breauty, including her rare blue-grey eyes(she inherited from her mother) and if she were a successful geisha, she would put Mother in terrific position to throw her out. As a result to her potential rivalry, Hatsumomo makes her life at the okiya very miserable by framing her several times for crimes that she had committed, including forcibly painting on another geisha's(Mameha) kimono, since she couldn't tolerate a potential competition. However, Auntie warns her to never trust the older geisha, even if she helps her, because she'll ruin her career. Soon after being half-heartedly beaten by her, Hatsumomo rewards Chiyo for ruining Mameha's kimono by telling her where Satsu was being housed at. After escorting Hatsumomo to the Mizuki Teahouse, she heads down to the Miyagawa-Cho district and finds Satsu there. She convinces Chiyo to run away with her on Tuesday and tells her to leave before she gets into trouble. Upon returnng to the Nitta Okiya, she catches Hatsumomo with her boyfriend, who runs away. Upset the older geisha hides more money in Chiyo's kimono, then takes her to Mother and accuses her of stealing her broach to a businessman. Unfortunately, she doesn't believe Hatsumomo and Chiyo tells the truth. Despite all of it, Mother still charges her and takes the money out of her kimono. The next day, she is confined inside the okiya. During the time, Chiyo plans her escape, but as she climbs across the roof of the okiya, she falls into the courtyard of a neighboring okiya, and breaks a bone on her arm.The next day after learning about what happened, an irate Auntie severely beats Chiyo with an iron rod and calls her a complete fool for trying to run away(not shown in the movie, but was in the book). Because of her attempt to run away, Mother bans her from learning the trades of being a geisha which pleased Hatsumomo since it will give her the leeway to making her life at the okiya more miserable. Chiyo will be forced to pay back her debts in the years that follow, condemning her to the life of a maid under Mother forever. Days later, Mr.Tanaka informs her in his letter that her mother died as soon as she was in Gion and her father dies weeks later. He also infoms that Satsu has returned to Yoroido, but left immediately with Mr.Sugi's son.One day, as a 12-year-old Chiyo was out on errands, she had become overwhelmed with everyone going around Gion, having a purpose in life. Whereas, she has nothing to look forward to because of her mistake in trying to run away. Feeling despair and lost like an abandoned island, she ends up on the bridge and was crying in her misery at the prospect of being a maid for the rest of her life. By chance she runs into the benevolent Chairman of Iwamura Electric who took the time to comfort her, much to the impatience and dismay of another geisha, Izuko. He gives her money in a handkerchief to purchase a snow cone.In the movie, he accompanies her for one and compliments on her rare blue-grey eyes. Before he leave gives her more money for a snow cone in his hankerchief and he has her promise him that the next time she falls down, she will still smile. Chiyo nods her head smiling and is immediately infatuated with the Chairman for his kindness. She heads to the temple shrine and uses the change that he gave from her snow cone as an offering. She asking the gods to allow her to become a geisha and to see him again.In the book, she gets her chance came during Granny's funeral in the form of Mameha, a successful geisha whose kimono was ruined because of her. On a meeting with her in her apartment, Chiyo apologizes for ruining her kimono. However, Mameha tells her that she's no fool and it was really Hatsumomo's fault because she refuses to tolerate competition. She tells her about what her rival did to Hatsuoki and reveals that she sees her more of a threat than Pumpkin. Mameha becomes Chiyo's older sister, after gaining a confession from her on why she tried to run away. Later on, she brings the idea up to Mother and convinces her to let her continue taking classes to learn the arts of a geisha. Show less «