Mineko Iwasaki

Mineko Iwasaki (岩崎 峰子?) also known as Iwasaki Mineko (岩崎 究香?), born Masako Tanaka (田中 政子, Tanaka Masako?, born November 2, 1949), was a Japanese businesswoman, Geiko and author. Iwasaki was the most famous Japanese Geiko in Japan until her sudden publicized retirement at the age of 29. Known for her performances for various celebrity and royalty during her Geisha life, Iwasaki was also an established heir or atotori to her geisha house (Okiya) while she was just an apprentice.

American author Arthur Golden later used her story to write his 1997 book, Memoirs of a Geisha. Iwasaki later regretted interviewing for Golden, having cited a breach of confidentiality and later sued then settled with Golden for the parallelism between his book and her life. She later released her own autobiography entitled Geisha of Gion in 2002.