Key Conflicts Pt. 1 // Diane S.

• Chiyo, a girl from the ocean-side town of Yoroido, is taken by Mr. Tanaka against her wishes to the district of Gion. There, Chiyo learns that she is to become a geisha, a Japanese entertainer of the arts. However, Chiyo, being so young, only wants to go back home and be reunited with her sister, Satsu, who was also taken from home. 
• At the okiya in Gion, Chiyo meets and is immediately hated by Hatsumomo, the only geisha at the Nitta okiya. Hatsumomo makes Chiyo's life miserable, and accuses her of several crimes that she didn't commit, adding to Chiyo's already large debt. 
• Chiyo meets the Chairman when he helps her when she is upset and in need. Chiyo falls in love with him and does whatever she can to find out more about him. However, because she doesn't see him again for such a long time, she thinks that she'll never encounter him again.
• After Chiyo becomes an apprentice geisha and takes on the new name of Sayuri, her older sister, Mameha, brings her to several parties around Gion so that she could meet people and increase her popularity. However, Hatsumomo follows them wherever they go, ruining their chances to introduce Sayuri to people of importance. Because this moment of an apprentice geisha's life is the most important, Sayuri has to stay at the okiya because Hatsumomo is ruining what little reputation she had.
• Sayuri befriends a girl called Pumpkin at the okiya. They become close friends, but Hatsumomo keeps them apart, determined to make Sayuri's life at the okiya miserable. Sayuri and Pumpkin miss each other, but after Mother adopts Sayuri as the daughter of the okiya, Pumpkin turns against Sayuri, because she herself had been hoping to gain that title.