Inoue Mao plays the role of Mineko, a young maiko (apprentice geisha) in the Gion district of Kyoto. -- Tokyograph. The story is loosely based on the autobiography of the famous retired 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 geisha, and training the cast to speak the unique Gion dialect.