Geisha - Japanese Girl Art | Japans Wonderland

Geisha (èŠ¸è€…) (; Japanese:Â [É¡eËÉ•a]), geiko (èŠ¸å), or geigi (èŠ¸å¦") are Japanese women who entertain through performing the ancient traditions of art, dance and singing, and are distinctively characterized by kimono and oshiroi makeup.

Contrary to popular belief, geisha are not the Eastern equivalent of a prostitute, a misconception originating in the West due to interactions with Japanese oiran (courtesans), whose traditional attire is similar to that of geisha.

Terms

The History & Art of the Geisha (FULL DOCUMENTARY) - Mention Geisha and a hundred and one images of beautiful young Japanese women, dressed in the traditional Kimono, will immediately spring to mind.

The word "geisha" consists of two kanji, èŠ¸ (gei) meaning "art" and è€… (sha) meaning "person" or "doer". The most literal translation of geisha into English would be "artist", "performing artist", or "artisan". Another regional term for geisha is geiko (èŠ¸å¦"), which translates specifically as "woman of art". This term is used to refer to geisha from Western Japan, including Kyoto and Kanazawa.

Apprentice geisha are called maiko (èˆžå¦"), lit. "woman of dance". In some regions of Japan, such as Tokyo, apprentices are referred to as hangyoku (åŠçŽ‰), "half-jewel", a euphemistic term referring to apprentices receiving half the wage of a full geisha - payment for geisha at one time having been referred to by terms such as "flower money" or "jewel money".

The white make-up and elaborate kimono and hair of a maiko is the popular image held of geisha. A woman entering the geisha community does not have to begin as a maiko, having the opportunity to begin her career as a full geisha if considered to be either too old to debut as a maiko or skilled enough to debut as a geisha. Despite this, a year's training is usually involved before debuting professionally as either.

On average, Tokyo apprentices (who typically begin at 18) are slightly older than their Kyoto counterparts (who usually start at 15). Historically, geisha often began the earliest stages of their training at a very young age, sometimes as early as 6 years old. The early shikomi (in-training) and minarai (learning by observation) stages of geisha training lasted for years (shikomi) and months (minarai) respectively, which is significantly longer than in contemporary times. A girl is often a shikomi for up to a year while the modern minarai period is simply one month.

It is still said that geisha inhabit a separate world which they call the karyÅ«kai or "the flower and willow world". Before they disappeared, courtesans were the colourful "flowers" and the geisha the willows in this phrase, ostensibly due to their subtlety, strength, and grace.

History

Death Becomes Her by Amy Dowell Fine Art Print Skull Japanese .... Source : www.purpleleopardboutique.com

Origins

In the early stages of Japanese history, there were female entertainers: Saburuko (serving girls) were mostly wandering girls whose families were displaced from struggles in the late 600s. Some of these saburuko girls sold sexual services, while others with a better education made a living by entertaining at high-class social gatherings. After the imperial court moved the capital to Heian-kyÅ (Kyoto) in 794 the conditions that would form geisha culture began to emerge, as it became the home of a beauty-obsessed elite. Skilled female performers, such as ShirabyÅshi dancers, thrived.

Traditional Japan embraced sexual delights and men were not constrained to be faithful to their wives. The ideal wife was a modest mother and manager of the home; by Confucian custom love had secondary importance. For sexual enjoyment and romantic attachment, men did not go to their wives, but to courtesans. Walled-in pleasure quarters known as yÅ«kaku (éŠå»"ã€éŠéƒ) were built in the 16th century, and in 1617 the shogunate designated "pleasure quarters", outside of which prostitution would be illegal, and within which yÅ«jo ("play women") would be classified and licensed. The highest yÅ«jo class was the geisha's predecessor, called tayuu, a combination of actress and prostitute, originally playing on stages set in the dry Kamo riverbed in Kyoto. They performed erotic dances and skits, and this new art was dubbed kabuku, meaning "to be wild and outrageous". "Kabuki" was derived from "kabuku", and this was the beginning of kabuki theater.

18th-century emergence of the geisha

Pleasure quarters quickly became glamorous entertainment centers, offering additional services other than sex. The highly accomplished courtesans of these districts entertained their clients by dancing, singing, and playing music. Some were renowned poets and calligraphers. Gradually, they all became specialized and the new profession, purely of entertainment began flourishing. It was near the turn of the eighteenth century that the first entertainers of the pleasure quarters, called geisha, appeared. The first geishas were men, entertaining customers waiting to see the most popular and gifted courtesans (oiran).

The forerunners of the female geisha were the teenage odoriko ("dancing girls"): expensively trained as chaste dancers-for-hire. In the 1680s, they were popular paid entertainers in the private homes of upper-class samurai, though many had turned to prostitution by the early 18th century. Those who were no longer teenagers (and could no longer style themselves odoriko) adopted other namesâ€"one being "geisha", after the male entertainers. The first woman known to have called herself geisha was a Fukagawa prostitute, in about 1750. She was a skilled singer and shamisen player named Kikuya who was an immediate success, making female geisha extremely popular in 1750s Fukagawa. As they became more widespread throughout the 1760s and 1770s, many began working only as entertainers (rather than prostitutes), often in the same establishments as male geisha.

Geisha in the 19th century to present day

The geisha who worked within the pleasure quarters were strictly forbidden from selling sex in order to protect the business of the oiran who held high status in society at the time. Geisha were forbidden from wearing particularly flashy hairpins or kimono, and if an oiran accused a geisha of stealing her customers and business, an official inquiry would be opened and an investigation held. At various points throughout the Edo period, geisha found themselves affected by various reforms aimed at limiting or shutting down the pleasure quarters, leading to geisha being confined to working within various "red light" districts at times, such as Shimabara in Tokyo. However, these reforms were often inconsistent, and were repealed at various times.

By 1800, being a geisha was understood to be a female occupation (though a handful of male geisha still work today). Whilst licensed courtesans existed to meet the sexual needs of men, machi geisha (town geisha) began to carve out a separate niche as artists and erudite, worldly female companions. The introduction of various edicts on dress in the 1720s onwards, coupled with the rise of iki saw geisha enjoy a rise in popularity. Eventually, oiran began to fall out of fashion, becoming less popular than the chic modern geisha; this was a trend that continued until the eradication of legal prostitution in Japan.

By the 1830s, geisha were considered to be some of the fashion and style icons in Japanese society, and were emulated by women of the time. Many trends that geisha started became widely popular and continue to this day; women wearing haori, for example, began from geisha in the Tokyo hanamachi of Fukugawa in the early 1800s.

There were many different classifications and ranks of geisha, not all of them formally recognized. Some geisha would have sex with their male customers, whereas others would not. Various terms arose to describe the distinctions; kuruwa geisha, for example, described geisha who slept with customers as well as entertaining with their skills in the performing arts. This differed from yujÅ (prostitute) and jorÅ (whore), who only slept with customers, and from machi geisha, who were exclusively entertainers (though some machi geisha still slept with the men they entertained).

Pre-war and wartime geisha

Prostitution in Japan was legal until the 1957 Prohibition of Prostitution Law (å£²æ˜¥é˜²æ¢æ³•, Baishun BÅshi HÅ) was passed, and so was practiced legally throughout Japan until this point, though various edicts up until this point had gradually restricted and changed the way that prostitution was legally conducted and regulated.

Before this time, World War II had brought a huge decline in the number of practicing geisha. In the years leading up to 1944, geisha had seen a decline in customers and income due to the war effort, though they themselves had contributed through the efforts of the various Geisha Associations throughout the country. In 1944, all geisha districts were closed, and geisha themselves conscripted into the war effort proper. Many geisha found themselves working in factories, or found work elsewhere through customers and patrons.

During and after the war, the geisha name lost some status, as some prostitutes began referring to themselves as "geisha girls" to members of the American military occupying Japan.

Post-war geisha

In 1945, the karyÅ«kai saw restrictions on its practices lifting, with teahouses, bars and okiya allowed to open once again. Though many geisha did not return to the hanamachi post-war, having found stable work elsewhere, it was evident that work as a geisha was still lucrative; geisha numbers began to pick up quickly, with the largest population of geisha (35% of the total) being aged 20-24, with many retiring from the profession in their mid-twenties - a trend carried over from the pre-war hanamachi:

I showed the mother of the Yamabuki [okiya, in 1975] some statistics on the age distribution of the geisha population in the 1920s. She remarked on the big dip in figures when women reached the age of twenty-five. "In those days, when you found yourself a patron you could stop working. If you were lucky you would be set up in your own apartment and have a life of leisure, taking lessons when you wanted to for your own enjoyment...I think it's pretty unusual nowadays for a geisha to stop working when she gets a patron."

The status of geisha in wider society underwent a drastic change post-war; having once been arbiters of change and fashion, the 1920's and 30's had seen a great deal of discussion surrounding the place of geisha in a rapidly Westernizing Japanese society. Some geisha had begun to experiment with wearing Western clothing to their engagements, experimenting with Western-style dancing and serving cocktails to customers instead of sake. The image of "modern" pre-war geisha had been viewed by some as unprofessional, or a betrayal of the profession's image; however, the incumbent pressures of the war rapidly turned the tide against Westernisation, and such experiments were abandoned.

Post-war, geisha rejected Western influence, reverting unanimously to wearing kimono and keeping the more traditional arts of playing the shamisen, singing and dancing. Nonetheless, this had the knock-on effect of dealing the final blow to the profession's reputation as fashionable in the wider societal sense, instead rendering their image "protectors of tradition" in terms of their methods of entertaining customers.

After Japan lost the war, geisha dispersed and the profession was in shambles. When they regrouped during the Occupation and began to flourish in the 1960s during Japan's postwar economic boom, the geisha world changed. In modern Japan, girls are not sold into indentured service. Nowadays, a geisha's sex life is her private affair.

Post-war geisha experienced a greater benefit in rights within the profession and in wider society, with the introduction of the Prostitution Prevention Law in 1956 at least serving to benefit geisha through the outlawing of mizuage, a practice undergone, willingly, coercively or through force, by some maiko in pre-war Japan.

Post-war misconceptions of mizuage being a common practice pre- and post-war mostly stem from American GIs encountering genuine prostitutes, not geisha, labelling their services as "mizuage" and themselves as "geisha". Having little previous experience with geisha culture, it is likely that foreign forces were unable to tell the difference between a geisha and a prostitute, as both commonly wore kimono when working; this misconception continues into the present day.

From the 1930s onwards, and particularly within post-war Japan, the rise of the jokyÅ« bar hostess began to overshadow geisha as the premiere profession of entertainment at parties and outings for men.^:84 In 1959, the Standard-Examiner reported the plight of then-contemporary geisha culled from an article written for the magazine Bungei Shunju by Japanese businessman TsÃ»sai Sugawara; Sugawara stated that girls now "prefer[red] to become dancers, models, and cabaret and bar hostesses rather than start [the] training in music and dancing at the age of seven or eight" necessary to become geisha at the time.

Compulsory education laws passed in the 1960s also made the traditions of training from a young age to become a geisha difficult to conduct, leading to a decline in women entering the profession, the pre-requisite qualities of training in the arts becoming more difficult to come by.

By 1975, the average age of a geisha in the PontochÅ district of Kyoto was roughly 39, with the vast majority of the geisha population in the district spanning ages 35-49. Though fewer geisha were in their fifties than in their 20s, the population of geisha over 60 was surprisingly high, roughly equivalent to younger women within the profession; this is, in part, due to the fact that geisha no longer retired young when they found a patron, and were less likely than other women of the same age to have children, grandchildren and a wider family, the karyukai instead being the closest and most familiar kin to many.

Present day geisha

In the present day, all maiko debut roughly aged 18, with most okiya requiring a girl to finish at the very least high school before debuting. A trainee entering the profession will commonly have at least some background in the arts before this; however, it is not uncommon for trainees to have little previous experience. With the advent of social media and wider TV, documentaries and books about geisha commonly inspire young women to join the profession, with the geisha Satsuki - officially deemed the most popular geisha in Gion for a period of seven years - having been one such person:

[Geisha] Satsuki first took an interest in the kagai [lit. "five geisha districts" - name for geisha quarters in Kyoto] while a middle school student in Osaka, at around the age of 14, after seeing a documentary about a maikoâ€™s training. â€œI already had heard of maiko, but it was when I saw the documentary that I thought â€" I want to do that.â€

Ranking

Transparent Geisha Png - Female Japanese Geisha Art, Png Download .... Source : www.kindpng.com

Though regional hanamachi usually are not large enough to be seen as having a hierarchy, in Kyoto, the differing hanamachi - known as the Gokagai (lit. "five hanamachi") - are unofficially ranked within Kyoto's karuykai. Gion Kobu, PontochÅ and Kamishichiken are seen as having the highest prestige, with Gion Kobu being placed at the top; below these three are Gion Higashi and Miyagawa-cho. The more prestigious hanamachi are frequented by powerful businessmen and politicians.

In the 1970s, Kyoto was described as having rokkagai (lit. "six hanamachi"), as the district of Shimabara was still active as a geisha district. However, no geisha are active in Shimabara in the 21st century, and it now hosts tayÅ« re-enactors instead.

Regional geisha districts are seen as having less prestige than those in Kyoto, viewed as being the pinnacle of tradition in the karyukai. Geisha in onsen towns such as Atami may also be seen as less prestigious, as instead of being called upon specially by customers already acquainted, they are instead employed by hotels who organise parties and banquets for travellers and holidaymakers who do not know them. Nevertheless, all geisha, regardless of region or district, are trained in the traditional arts, making the distinction of prestige one of history and tradition.

Stages of training

Beautiful Japanese Geisha Girl. Geisha, Ancient Japan, Classical .... Source : www.123rf.com

Traditionally, geisha began their training at a young age. Some girls were bonded to geisha houses (okiya) as children. Daughters of geisha were often brought up as geisha themselves, usually as the successor (atotori, meaning "heir" or "heiress" in this particular situation) or daughter-role (musume-bun) to the okiya. Successors, however, were not always blood relations.

In the present day, geisha no longer begin their training at a young age, and usually debut as maiko around the age of 17 or 18. Before this time, they may live at the okiya as shikomi - essentially a trainee trainee, learning all the necessary skills to become a maiko, as well as attending to the needs of the house and learning to live with her geisha sisters and within the karyÅ«kai.

A maiko is an apprentice and is therefore bonded under a contract to her okiya. The okiya will usually supply her with food, board, kimono, obi, and other tools of her trade, but a maiko may decide to fund everything herself from the beginning with either a loan or the help of an outside guarantor.

In both cases, a maiko's training is very expensive, and this debt must be repaid over time to either the okiya or her guarantor with the earnings she makes. This repayment may continue after graduation to geishahood, and only when her debts are settled can a geisha claim her entire wages and work independently (if loaning from the okiya).

After this point, however, she may chose to stay on living at her okiya, must still be affiliated to one to work, and even living away from the okiya, will usually commute there to begin her working evening.

A maiko will start her formal training on the job as a minarai - which literally means "learning by watching" - at an ozashiki (ãŠåº§æ•·, a geisha party), where she will sit and observe as the other maiko and geisha interact with customers. In this way, a trainee gains insights into the nature of the job, following the typical nature of traditional arts apprenticeships wherein an apprentice is expected to learn almost entirely through observation.

Although geisha at the stage of minarai training will attend parties, they will not participate on an involved level, and are instead expected to sit quietly. Trainees can be hired for parties, but are usually uninvited - though welcomed - guests, brought along by their symbolic older sister as a way of introducing a new trainee to patrons of the karyÅ«kai.

Minarai usually charge just a third of the fee a typical geisha would charge, and typically work within just one particular tea house, known as the minarai-jaya - learning from the mother (proprietress) of the house. The minarai stage of training involves learning techniques of conversation, typical party games, and proper decorum and behaviour within banquets and parties. This stage lasts only about a month or so.

After the minarai period, a trainee will make her official debut (misedashi) and officially become a maiko. Maiko (literally "dance girl") are apprentice geisha, and this stage can last for up to 5 years. Maiko learn from their senior maiko and geiko mentors. The onee-san and imouto-san (senior/junior, literally "older sister/younger sister") relationship is important. The onee-san, any maiko or geiko who is senior to a girl, teaches her maiko everything about working in the hanamachi. The onee-san will teach her proper ways of serving tea, playing shamisen, dancing, casual conversation and more.

There are three major elements of a maiko's training. The first is the formal arts training. This takes place in schools which are found in every hanamachi. The second element is the entertainment training which a trainee learns at various tea houses and parties by observing her onee-san. The third is the social skill of navigating the complex social web of the hanamachi; formal greetings, gifts, and visits are key parts of the social structure of the karyÅ«kai, and crucial for the support network necessary to support a trainee's eventual debut as a geisha.

Maiko are considered one of the great sights of Japanese tourism, and look very different from fully qualified geisha. They are at the peak of traditional Japanese femininity. The scarlet-fringed collar of a maiko's kimono hangs very loosely in the back to accentuate the nape of the neck, which is considered a primary erotic area in Japanese sexuality. She wears the same white makeup for her face on her nape, leaving two or sometimes three stripes of bare skin exposed. Her kimono is bright and colourful with an elaborately tied obi hanging down to her ankles. She takes very small steps and wears traditional wooden shoes called okobo which stand nearly ten centimeters high. There are five different hairstyles that a maiko wears, that mark the different stages of her apprenticeship.

The nihongami hairstyle with kanzashi hair ornaments are most closely associated with maiko, who spend hours each week at the hairdresser and sleep on special pillows to preserve the elaborate styling. Maiko can develop a bald spot on their crown caused by the stress of wearing these hairstyles almost every day, but in the present day, this is less likely to happen due to the later age at which maiko begin their apprenticeship.

Around the age of 20â€"21, the maiko is promoted to a full-fledged geisha in a ceremony called erikae (turning of the collar). This could happen after three to five years of her life as a maiko or hangyoku, depending on at what age she debuted. Geisha remain as such until they retire.

Female dominance in geisha society

rdt #reddemon #reddemontattoos #tattoo #tattoos #art #drawing .... Source : www.pinterest.com

The biggest industry in Japan is not shipbuilding, producing cultured pearls, or manufacturing transistor radios or cameras. It is entertainment.

Despite long-held connotations between sex and geisha, a geisha's sex and love life is usually distinct from her professional life. A successful geisha can entertain her male customers with music, dance, and conversation.

Geishas are not submissive and subservient, but in fact they are some of the most financially and emotionally successful and strongest women in Japan, and traditionally have been so.

Most geisha are single women, though may have lovers or boyfriends over time. In previous decades, a married geisha would not have been able to continue working within the profession; however, in the present day, some geisha are married and continue to work. These geisha are usually found in regions outside of Kyoto, whose highly-traditionalist hanamachi would be unlikely to allow a married geisha to continue working.

There is currently no western equivalent for a geishaâ€"they are truly the most impeccable form of Japanese art.

Relationships with male guests

The appeal of a high-ranking geisha to her typical male guest has historically been very different from that of his wife. The ideal geisha showed her skill, while the ideal wife was modest. The ideal geisha seemed carefree, the ideal wife somber and responsible. Historically, geisha did sometimes marry their clients, but marriage necessitated retirement, as there were never married geisha.

Geisha may gracefully flirt with their guests, but they will always remain in control of the hospitality. Over their years of apprenticeship they learn to adapt to different situations and personalities, mastering the art of the hostess.

Geisha as a women-centered society

Women in the geisha society are some of the most successful businesswomen in Japan. Inside the hanamachi, women, with the sole exclusions of male kimono dressers, some hairstylists and other craftspeople, run everything; new geisha are trained for the most part by their symbolic mothers and older sisters, and engagements are arranged through the mother of the house. Without the impeccable business skills of the female tea house owners, the world of geisha would cease to exist. The tea house owners are entrepreneurs, whose service to the geisha is highly necessary for the society to run smoothly. Infrequently, men take contingent positions such as hair stylists, dressers (dressing a maiko requires considerable strength) and accountants, but men have a limited role in geisha society.

The geisha system was founded, actually, to promote the independence and economic self-sufficiency of women. And that was its stated purpose, and it actually accomplished that quite admirably in Japanese society, where there were very few routes for women to achieve that sort of independence.

Historically, the majority of women were wives who did not work outside of their familial duties. A young geisha, however, could repay her debts, become independent and work as such after making her debut. Becoming a geisha, therefore, was one method for women to support themselves without becoming a wife. Women run the geisha houses, they are teachers, they run the tea houses, they recruit aspiring geisha, and they keep track of a geisha's finances. Moreover, the geisha who has been chosen as an atotori (heir) of the Ggisha house would live there and run the business throughout her career until the next generation. The only major role men play in geisha society is that of guest, though women sometimes take that role as well.

Historically, Japanese feminists have seen geisha as exploited women, but some modern geisha see themselves as liberated feminists: "We find our own way, without doing family responsibilities. Isn't that what feminists are?"

Modern geisha

Beautiful Japanese Geisha Woman And Traditional Katana Sword .... Source : www.123rf.com

Modern geisha still live in traditional geisha houses called okiya in areas called hanamachi (èŠ±è¡— "flower streets"), particularly during their apprenticeship. Many experienced geisha are successful enough to choose to live independently. The elegant, high-culture world that geisha are a part of is called karyÅ«kai (èŠ±æŸ³ç•Œ "the flower and willow world").

Before the twentieth century, geisha training began when a girl was around the age of six. Now, girls must go to school until they are 15 years old and have graduated from middle school and then make the personal decision to train to become a geisha. Young women who wish to become geisha now most often begin their training after high school or even college. Many more women begin their careers in adulthood.

Geisha still study traditional instruments: the shamisen, shakuhachi, and drums, as well as learn games, traditional songs, calligraphy, Japanese traditional dances (in the nihonbuyÅ style), tea ceremony, literature, and poetry.

By watching other geisha, and with the assistance of the owner of the geisha house, apprentices also become skilled dealing with clients and in the complex traditions surrounding selecting and wearing kimono, a floor length silk robe embroidered with intricate designs which is held together by a sash at the waist which is called an obi.

In modern Japan, geisha and their apprentices are now a rare sight outside hanamachi or chayagai (èŒ¶å±‹è¡—, literally "tea house district", often referred to as "entertainment district"). In the 1920s, there were over 80,000 geisha in Japan, but today, there are far fewer. Most common sightings are of tourists who pay a fee to be dressed up as a maiko.

A sluggish economy, declining interest in the traditional arts, the exclusive nature of the flower and willow world, and the expense of being entertained by geisha have all contributed to the tradition's decline. However, the flower and willow world has seen a resurgence in new members over the last 10 years due to the accessibility that the internet has provided for young girls wanting to know more about the profession and not needing a formal introduction to an okiya.

Geisha are often hired to attend parties and gatherings, traditionally at ochaya (ãŠèŒ¶å±‹, literally "tea houses") or at traditional Japanese restaurants (ryÅtei). The charge for a geisha's time, which used to be determined by measuring a burning incense stick, is called senkÅdai (ç·šé¦™ä»£, "incense stick fee") or gyokudai (çŽ‰ä»£ "jewel fee"). Now they are flat fees charged by the hour. In Kyoto, the terms ohana (ãŠèŠ±) and hanadai (èŠ±ä»£), meaning "flower fees", are preferred. The okasan makes arrangements through the geisha union office (æ¤œç•ª kenban), which keeps each geisha's schedule and makes her appointments both for entertaining and for training.

Non-Japanese geisha

Geisha Japanese Woman Portrait Asian Art Wall Decor Poster in 2020 .... Source : www.pinterest.com

Since the 1970s, non-Japanese have also become geisha. Liza Dalby, an American national, worked briefly with geisha in the Pontocho district of Kyoto as part of her doctorate research, although she did not formally debut as a geisha herself. To become a non-japanese geisha, in addition to the normal requirments, you have to have japanese permanent residency and be fluent in japanese.

Other foreign nationals who have completed training and worked as geisha in Japan include the following:

Sayuki â€" Sayuki (Fiona Graham) was an Australian geisha trainee who debuted in the Asakusa district of Tokyo in 2007 as a first foreign geisha in Japan. In February 2011, she left the Asakusa Geisha Association, and is currently working as a geisha in the Fukagawa district.

Kimicho - (Sydney Stephens), an American national who worked as a geisha in the Shinagawa district of Tokyo. Stephens debuted in August of 2015, but left the profession in 2017 for personal reasons.

FukutarÅ â€" (Isabella), a Romanian national worked in the Izu-Nagaoka district of Shizuoka Prefecture. She began her apprenticeship in April 2010 and debuted a year later in 2011.

Ibu â€" (Eve), a geiko of Ukrainian descent working in AnjÅ district of Aichi Prefecture, who first became interested in being a geisha in 2000, after visiting Japan for a year to study traditional dance.

Juri â€" (Maria), a Peruvian geiko working in the resort town of Yugawara in Kanagawa Prefecture.

Rinka - (Zhang Xue), a Chinese national from Shenyang, who became a geisha in Shimoda in Shizuoka Prefecture in September 2011.

Public performances

Amazon.com: Yeazo Wall Stickers Art Decor Decals Sexy Naked .... Source : www.amazon.com

While traditionally geisha have led a cloistered existence, in recent years they have become more publicly visible, and entertainment is available without requiring the traditional introduction and connections.

The most visible form of this are public dances, or odori (generally written in traditional kana spelling as ã‚'ã©ã‚Š, rather than modern ãŠã©ã‚Š), featuring both maiko and geisha. All the Kyoto hanamachi hold these annually (mostly in spring, with one exclusively in autumn), dating to the Kyoto exhibition of 1872, and there are many performances, with tickets being inexpensive, ranging from around 1500 yen to 4500 yen â€" top-price tickets also include an optional tea ceremony (tea and wagashi served by maiko) before the performance; see Kyoto hanamachi and Kanazawa hanamachi for a detailed listing. Other hanamachi also hold public dances, including some in Tokyo, but have fewer performances.

Another notable event is that the geisha (including maiko) of the Kamishichiken district in northwest Kyoto serve tea to 3,000 guests on February 25 in an annual open-air tea ceremony (é‡Žç‚¹, nodate) at the plum-blossom festival (æ¢…èŠ±ç¥, baikasai) at Kitano Tenman-gÅ« shrine. As of 2010, these geishas also serve beer in a beer garden at Kamishichiken Kaburenjo Theatre during summer months (July to early September); another geisha beer garden is available at the Gion Shinmonso ryokan in the Gion district. These beer gardens also feature traditional dances by the geisha in the evenings.

Arts

Red Demon on Instagram: â rdt reddemon reddemontattoos tattoo ...

Red Demon on Instagram: â€œ rdt reddemon reddemontattoos tattoo .... Source : www.pinterest.com

Pre-WW2, geisha began their formal study of music and dance very young, having typically joined an okiya aged 11-13 years old. In the present day, labour laws stipulate that that apprentices only join an okiya aged 18; Kyoto is legally allowed to take on recruits at a younger age, 15-17.

Before this time, new recruits are expected to have some interest and experience in the arts, but this now relies on the individual in question, rather than being a strict prerequisite. Some okiya will take on recruits with no previous experience, and some young geisha will be expected to start lessons from the very beginning.

Geisha can and do work into their eighties and nineties, and are still expected to train regularly, even after seventy years of experience, though lessons may only be put on a few times a month.

The dance performed by geisha has evolved from dance styles performed on the nÅh and kabuki stages. The "wild and outrageous" dances transformed into a more subtle, stylized, and controlled form of dance. Every dance uses gestures to tell a story and only a connoisseur can understand the subdued symbolism. For example, a tiny hand gesture represents reading a love letter, holding the corner of a handkerchief in the mouth represents coquetry and the long sleeves of the elaborate kimono are often used to symbolize dabbing tears.

The dances are accompanied by traditional Japanese music. The primary instrument is the shamisen. The shamisen was introduced to the geisha culture in 1750 and has been mastered by female Japanese artists for years. This shamisen, originating in Okinawa, is a banjo-like three-stringed instrument that is played with a plectrum. It has a very distinct, melancholy sound that is often accompanied by flute. The instrument is described as "melancholy" because traditional shamisen music uses only minor thirds and sixths. All geisha must learn shamisen-playing, though it takes years to master. Along with the shamisen and the flute, geisha also learned to play a ko-tsuzumi, a small, hourglass-shaped shoulder drum, and a large floor taiko (drum). Some geisha would not only dance and play music, but would write beautiful, melancholy poems. Others painted pictures or composed music.

Geisha and prostitution

Japanese Geisha art. Wall art of a Geisha in traditional dress .... Source : www.alamy.com

Sheridan Prasso wrote that Americans had "an incorrect impression of the real geisha world ... geisha means 'arts person' trained in music and dance, not in the art of sexual pleasure". K.Â G. Henshall wrote that the geisha's purpose was "to entertain their customer, be it by dancing, reciting verse, playing musical instruments, or engaging in light conversation. Geisha engagements may include flirting with men and playful innuendos; however, clients know that nothing more can be expected. In a social style that is common in Japan, men are amused by the illusion of that which is never to be." They are comparable to the concept of an 'accomplished woman' in Regency era England.

In 1872, shortly after the Meiji Restoration, the new government passed a law liberating "prostitutes (shÅgi) and geisha (geigi)". These terms were a subject of controversy because the difference between geisha and prostitutes remained ambiguous. Some officials thought that prostitutes and geisha worked at different ends of the same professionâ€"selling sexâ€" and that all prostitutes should henceforth be called "geisha". In the end, the government decided to maintain a line between the two groups, arguing that geisha were more refined and should not be soiled by association with prostitutes.

Also, geisha working in onsen towns such as Atami are dubbed onsen geisha. Onsen geisha have been given a bad reputation due to the prevalence of prostitutes in such towns who market themselves as "geisha". In contrast to these "one-night geisha", the true onsen geisha are competent dancers and musicians. However, the autobiography of Sayo Masuda, an onsen geisha who worked in Nagano Prefecture in the 1930s, reveals that in the past, such women were often under intense pressure to sell sex.

Personal relationships and danna partnership

Geisha are portrayed as unattached. Formerly those who chose to marry had to retire from the profession, though today, some geisha are allowed to marry. It was traditional in the past for established geisha to take a danna, or patron. A danna was typically a wealthy man, sometimes married, who had the means to support the very large expenses related to a geisha's traditional training and other costs. This sometimes occurs today as well, but very rarely. A geisha and her danna may or may not be in love, but intimacy is never viewed as a reward for the danna's financial support. While it is true that a geisha is free to pursue personal relationships with men she meets through her work, such relationships are carefully chosen and unlikely to be casual. A hanamachi tends to be a very tight-knit community and a geisha's good reputation is not taken lightly.

"Geisha (Gee-sha) girls"

During the period of the Allied occupation of Japan, local women called "Geisha girls" worked as prostitutes. They almost exclusively serviced American GIs stationed in the country, who actually referred to them as "Geesha girls" (a mispronunciation). These women dressed in kimono and imitated the look of geisha. Many Americans unfamiliar with the Japanese culture could not tell the difference between legitimate geisha and these costumed performers. Shortly after their arrival in 1945, some occupying American GIs are said to have congregated in Ginza and shouted, "We want geesha girls!"

Eventually, the English term "geisha girl" became a general word for any female Japanese prostitute or worker in the mizu shÅbai and included bar hostesses and streetwalkers.

"Geisha girls" are speculated by researchers to be largely responsible for the continuing misconception in the West that all geisha are engaged in prostitution.

Mizuage

Mizuage (æ°´æšã') - lit., "raising the waters" - was a ceremony undergone by junior kamuro and some maiko as part of the process of promotion to senior status. Originally meaning the unloading of a ship's cargo of fish, over time, the word came to represent money earned in the karyukai - one of the other names for the entertainment business being the mizu shÅbai, lit. "the water business".

Alongside the changing of hairstyles from the junior maiko wareshinobu style to the senior maiko ofuku style and visits conducted to sister okiya and important patrons within the karyukai, some maiko would have their virginity sold to a patron who would sponsor her graduation to geisha status monetarily. This sponsorship usually constituted a relatively high cost, and so unscrupulous okiya owners would not uncommonly sell a girl's virginity more than once, ostensibly under the pretence of a patron being the girl's "first", pocketing the money entirely for themselves.

Prostitutes, particularly during the Second World War, would often use this term to refer to their acts with customers, which led to great confusion when such prostitutes called themselves "geisha" in the company of foreign soldiers, and even amongst Japanese customers. Post-1956, prostitution was criminalised within Japan, and mizuage is no longer practiced within the karyukai.

Appearance

A geisha's appearance will change throughout her career, from the girlish appearance of being a maiko to the more sombre appearance of a senior geisha. Different hairstyles and hairpins signify different stages of apprenticeship and training, as does the makeup - especially on maiko.

Makeup

The makeup of maiko and geisha is one of their most recognisable characteristics.

The traditional makeup of a maiko features a base of white foundation with red lipstick and red and black accents around the eyes and eyebrows. First-year maiko will only paint their lower lip with lipstick, and wear less black on the eyebrows and eyes than senior maiko. A junior maiko will paint her eyebrows shorter than a senior maiko will. Maiko will also wear tonoko (a kind of blusher) on the face, usually around the eyes. Young maiko often have the mother of the house or her "older sister" mentor to help apply this makeup.

The makeup of geisha does not vary much from this, though geisha will wear less tonoko than maiko. Older geisha will generally only wear full white face makeup during stage performances and special appearances. Both geisha and maiko do not colour both lips in fully, and will instead underpaint both lips, the top moreso than the bottom. The lipstick used comes in a small stick, which is melted in water.

Maiko in their final stage of training sometimes colour their teeth black for a brief period, usually when wearing the sakkÅ hairstyle. This practice used to be common among married women in Japan and in earlier times at the imperial court; however, it survives only in some districts. It is done partly because uncoloured teeth can appear very yellow in contrast to the oshiroi worn by maiko; from a distance, the teeth seem to disappear.

Dress

Geisha always wear kimono, though the type and the style varies based on age, occasion, region and time of year.

Apprentice geisha wear highly colourful long-sleeved kimono with extravagant and very long obi. Whereas maiko in Kyoto wear kimono with relatively large, but sparse, patterns, apprentices in places such as Tokyo wear kimono more similar in appearance to regular furisode - smaller, busier patterns.

Maiko of Kyoto wear their obi in the darari (dangling) style, whereas regional apprentices and Tokyo han-gyoku wear theirs usually tied in the fukura-suzume style, amongst others. Maiko will wear a red han-eri (collar cover) with an increasing quantity of white, gold and silver embroidery as the apprenticeship progresses.

Geisha tend to have a more uniform appearance across region, and wear kimono more subdued in pattern and colour than apprentices. Geisha always wear short-sleeved kimono, regardless of occasion or formality. Geisha wear their obi in the nijuudaiko musubi style - a taiko musubi (drum knot) tied with a fukuro obi; geisha from Tokyo and Kanazawa also wear their obi in the yanagi musubi (willow knot) style and the tsunodashi musubi style. Geisha exclusively wear solid white han-eri.

Both geisha and maiko will wear susohiki (trailing skirt) kimono to formal events, banquets and performances; some regional geisha and maiko may not wear susohiki.

Geisha wear either geta or zÅri, while maiko wear either zÅri or okobo - a high-heeled type of geta roughly 10-12cm tall. Both will wear tabi, whether wearing shoes or not.

Hair

The hairstyles of geisha have varied through history. In the past, it has been common for women to wear their hair down in some periods and up in others. During the 17th century, women began putting all their hair up again, and it is during this time that the traditional shimada hairstyle, a type of chignon worn by most established geisha, developed.

There are two major types of the shimada seen in the karyukai: the Taka Shimada, a high mage (high section) usually worn by young, single women and the Tsubushi Shimada, a more flattened mage generally worn by older women Additional hairstyles for maiko include Wareshinobu, Ofuku, Katsuyama, Yakko Shimada, and SakkÅ. Maiko of Pontocho will wear an additional six hairstyles leading up to SakkÅ, including Oshidori, Kikugasane, Yuiwata, Suisha, Oshun, and Osafune.

These hairstyles are decorated with elaborate hair-combs and hairpins (kanzashi). Beginning In the seventeenth century and continuing through the Meiji Restoration period, hair-combs were large and conspicuous, generally more ornate for higher-class women. Following the Meiji Restoration and into the modern era, smaller and less conspicuous hair-combs became more popular.

Maiko sleep with their necks on small supports (takamakura), instead of pillows, so they keep their hairstyle perfect. Even if there are no accidents, a maiko will need her hair styled every week. Many modern geisha use wigs in their professional lives, while maiko use their natural hair. Either must be regularly tended by highly skilled artisans. Traditional hairstyling is a slowly dying art. Over time, the hairstyle can cause balding on the top of the head.

SakkÅ (å…ˆç¬„) is a Japanese hairstyle. It is worn by maiko today, but was worn in the Edo period by wives to show their dedication to their husbands. Maiko wear it during a ceremony called Erikae, which marks their graduation from maiko to geiko. Maiko use black wax to stain their teeth as well. Crane and tortoiseshell ornaments are added as kanzashi. The style is twisted in many knots, and is quite striking and elaborate.

In popular culture

A growing number of geisha have complained to the authorities about being pursued down the street and tugged on the sleeves of their kimono by groups of tourists keen to take their photograph. As a result, residents and local businesses have joined forces to protect the geisha by launching patrols of the streets of Kyoto's Gion entertainment district in order to prevent tourists from pestering them.

Many stories are told about geisha. This includes Arthur Golden's popular English-language novel Memoirs of a Geisha which was adapted into a film in 2005.

Films about geisha

Sisters of the Gion (1936)â€"Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
The Life of Oharu (è¥¿é¶´ä¸€ä»£å¥³ Saikaku Ichidai Onna) (1952)â€"Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
A Geisha (ç¥‡åœ'å›ƒå, Gion bayashi) (1953)â€"Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956)â€"Dir. Daniel Mann
The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958)â€"Dir. John Huston
The Geisha Boy (1958)â€"Dir. Frank Tashlin
Late Chrysanthemums (Bangiku) (1958)â€"Dir. Mikio Naruse
Cry for Happy (1961)â€"George Marshall comedy
My Geisha (1962)â€"Dir. Jack Cardiff
The Wolves (1971)â€"Dir. Hideo Gosha
The World of Geisha (1973)â€"Dir. Tatsumi Kumashiro
In the Realm of the Senses (1976)â€"Dir. Nagisa Oshima
Ihara Saikaku Koshoku Ichidai Otoko (1991)â€"Dir. Yukio Abe
The Geisha House (1999)â€"Dir. Kinji Fukasaku
The Sea is Watching (2002)â€"Dir. Kei Kumai
Zatoichi (2003)â€"Dir. Takeshi Kitano
Fighter in the Wind (2004)â€"Dir. Yang Yun-ho
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)â€"Dir. Rob Marshall
Wakeful Nights (2005)â€"Dir. Masahiko Tsugawa
Maiko Haaaan!!! (2007)â€"Dir. Nobuo Mizuta
Lady Maiko (2014)â€"Dir. Masayuki Suo

Video games about geisha

Total War: Shogun 2 (Used as agent to assassinate or seduce enemy clans)

Battle Realms (Used as healers by Dragon Clan And Serpent Clan)

Notes

References

External links

Media related to Geisha at Wikimedia Commons
Nagoya's Geiko and Maiko: Meigiren official site

Geisha - Japanese Girl Art

Terms