At the age of five Mineko left home to study traditional Japanese dance in Gion, Kyoto and by 21, she was considered Japan’s best dancer and maiko. (Source: Kimono Box)
Hanaikusa is just an hour long movie.
Inoue Mao plays the role of Mineko, a young maiko (apprentice geisha) in the Gion Kobu Geisha district of Kyoto.
The story is based on the autobiography of the famous retired Geiko (geisha) Mineko Iwasaki (who was one of the sources for Arthur Golden’s “Memoirs of a Geisha”). Iwasaki is also involved in the drama by personally coaching Inoue in the ways of the Geiko, and training the cast to speak the unique Gion dialect.
Hanaikusa 【花いくさ】
In December 2002, NBC played a spot featuring an interview with Mineko Iwasaki in relation to the Memoirs of a Geisha novel.