At the peak of her career in the 1970s, Mineko Iwasaki was probably the most famous and highest-earning geisha in Japan.

Chosen as heir to the Iwasaki geisha house in Gion, she left her home aged four and was legally adopted by the geisha house "mother" in the 1950s. Iwasaki endured the rigours of geisha training to rise to the top of her profession; by the time she retired at 29, she had entertained some of the most famous people in the world, including Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles, and former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger.

Still strikingly attractive at 56, she lives in retirement in Kyoto with her artist husband. Her 2002 book, Geisha, a Life, has been translated into 23 languages and acclaimed as the first authentic account by a former geisha of life in the "flower and willow" world of Gion.

Iwasaki reacts angrily to suggestions that maiko sold their virginity. One scene describes her threatening a rich client with a knife when he tried to grope her.

Of all the heads of state she entertained, she remembers the King of Tonga most fondly. But she says Queen Elizabeth II, who visited Japan in 1975, was "frosty" and "rude". "She never laid a chopstick on the food that had been so painstakingly prepared for her." Prince Charles made the error of signing her fan. "I told him he could keep it; I didn't want it any more." "Saucy" Henry Kissinger "put his hand on my backside, but when we told him to desist he did," says Iwasaki. "He is an intelligent man."

Iwasaki still receives requests for help from girls who want to become maiko. What does she look for in a potential recruit? "Beauty first, then intelligence; I ask them do they know the history of Gion. They must respect the dignity of geisha."