The life story and beautiful photos of nine-fingered geisha Tise Takaoka
Tise Takaoka was a geisha and later became a Buddhist nun. She went by the pseudonyms Chieha and Teruha, and her real name was Tatsuko Takaoka. She became famous for her radiant beauty and for cutting off her finger for the sake of her lover.
Tise was born in 1896 in Nara Prefecture, but her parents registered her birth at Osaka City Hall. Her mother, Oda Tsuru, died when she was two years old. Historians suggest that Tsuru ran away from home. Her grandmother raised Tice, and when she was seven years old, she started working as a waitress in her aunt's tea shop. When she was 12 years old, her father sold her, sending her to Ouma Tsuji, a courtesan and concubine of Kabuki actor Onoe Kikugoro V. At the age of 14, Tise debuted as a Chiecha. Thanks to its unusual beauty, it has become popular.
Soon Tise fell in love with a certain Otomine, who was a famous playboy and a wealthy clothing merchant in the Higashi area. Then she was 15 years old. She ran away with him to Beppu Onsen. Otomine broke up with her after finding a picture of the Kabuki actor in her hand mirror. She cut off her little finger with a razor and gave it to Otomina as a sign of her loyalty to him. She couldn't stay in Osaka after the scandal, and she was taken into care by Kiyoka, a geisha from Tokyo who was Lord Taketaro Goto's mistress.
By that time, Tise was in debt, having borrowed a large sum of 3,000 yen from various people. The news that her younger brother was burned alive in a fire the day before her debut led her to depression. But she soon pulled herself together. Soon she became a very popular geisha again, many men were looking for her attention. She started selling her photos, which quickly became popular and brought her a lot of money. Some men illegally copied and sold them, and Tise actively fought against the violation of her commercial rights.
Being a geisha, Tise was distinguished by her modest behavior and studied a lot. After reading many books, she learned the art of calligraphy and later began to write herself. In 1919, Tise married Suezo Oda, a stockbroker and aspiring cinematographer. They traveled around the United States together. After studying English for eight months, Tise lived in a girls' school dormitory. Upon returning home, her behavior in the US led to tensions in her marriage. Her husband did not like her desire to study. Because of the scandals, she tried to commit suicide twice, after which they divorced.
After returning home, she worked as a geisha. Under the name Teruha Oda, she starred in Shiro Nakagawa's 1923 film Ai no Tobira (The Gates of Love). She later remarried and opened a bar in Osaka with her doctor husband. Her first autobiography, entitled Teruha Zange, was published in 1928. At the age of 39, she became a Buddhist nun at Kume Temple, calling herself Tise. Later, she went to the destroyed Gyoji Temple in Kyoto and rebuilt it. It has become a refuge for women in difficult life situations. Tise remained his abbess until the end of her life and died on October 22, 1994 at the age of 98.