Geisha ( 芸者 ? ) , Geiko ( 芸子 ? ) or Geigi ( 芸妓 ? ) are traditional, female Japanese entertainers whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance.
Terms
Geisha (pronounced /ˈɡeɪʃә/ ), like all Japanese nouns, has no distinct singular or plural variants. The word consists of two kanji, 芸 ( gei ) meaning "art" and 者 ( sha ) meaning "person" or "doer". The most literal translation of geisha into English would be "artist" or "performing artist". Another name for geisha used in Japan is geiko , which is usually used to refer to geisha from Western Japan, including Kyoto.
Apprentice geisha are called maiko ( 舞子 or 舞妓 , literally "dance child") or hangyoku (半玉), "half-jewel" (meaning that they are paid half the wage as opposed to a full geisha), or by the more generic term o-shaku (御酌), literally "one who pours (alcohol)". Maikos' white make-up and elaborate kimono and hairstyle is the popular image held of geisha. A woman entering the geisha community does not have to start out as a maiko, having the opportunity to begin her career as a full geisha. Either way, however, usually a year's training is involved before debuting either as a maiko or as a geisha. A woman above 21 is considered too old to be a maiko and becomes a full geisha upon her initiation into the geisha community. However, those who do go through the maiko stage can enjoy more prestige later in their professional lives.
Tokyo geisha are more likely to start at 18 years old for hangyoku, so on average, Tokyo hangyoku are slightly older than their Kyoto counterparts.
Stages of training
Traditionally, Geisha began their training at a very young age. Although some girls were bonded to geisha houses (okiya) as children, this was not a common practice in reputable districts. Daughters of geisha were often brought up as geisha themselves, usually as the successor (atotori, meaning "heiress") or daughter-role (musume-bun) to the okiya.
A maiko will start her formal training on the job as a minarai . Before she can do this she must find an onee-san ("older sister": an older geisha acting as her mentor). It is the onee-san' s responsibility to bring her to the ozashiki, to sit and observe as the onee-san is at work. This is a way in which she will gain insights of the job, and seek out potential clients. Although minarai attend ozashiki (banquets in which guests are attended by geisha), they do not participate at an advanced level. Their kimono, more elaborate than a maiko's, are intended to do the talking for them. Minarai can be hired for parties but are usually uninvited (yet welcomed) guests at parties that their onee-san attends. They only charge a third of the usual fee. Minarai generally work with a particular tea house ( minarai-jaya ) learning from the okaa-san (literally "mother," the proprietress of the house). From her, they would learn techniques such as conversation and gaming, which would not be taught to them in school. This stage lasts only about a month or so.
After a short period of time the final of training begins, and the students are called maiko. Maiko (literally "dance girl") are apprentice geisha, and this stage can last for years. Maiko learns from their senior geisha mentor and follows them around to all their engagements. The onee-san and imouto-san (senior/junior, literally "older sister/younger sister") relationship is important. Since the onee-san teaches her maiko everything about working in the hanamachi, her teaching is vital. There are 5 different hairstyles that the maiko wear, that mark the different stages of her apprenticeship. She will teach her proper ways of serving tea, playing shamisen, dancing, casual conversation and more. The onee-san will even help pick the maiko's new professional name with kanji or symbols related to her name.
When a girl is around 20-22, the maiko is promoted to a full-fledged geisha in a ceremony called erikae (turning of the collar). This could happen after two to five years of her life as a maiko or hangyoku, depending on at what age she debuted. She now charges full price for her time. Geisha remain as such until they retire.
Modern geisha
Modern geisha still live in traditional geisha houses called okiya in areas called hanamachi (花街 "flower towns"), 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 karyūkai (花柳界 "the flower and willow world").
Young women who wish to become geisha now most often begin their training after completing middle school, junior high school, or even high school, or college. Many women begin their careers in adulthood. Geisha still study traditional instruments: the shamisen, shakuhachi, and drums, as well as traditional songs, Japanese traditional dances, tea ceremony, literature, and poetry. Women dancers drawing their art from butō (a classical Japanese dance) were trained by the Hanayagi school, whose top dancers performed internationally. Ichinohe Sachiko choreographed and performed traditional dances in Heian court costumes, characterized by the slow, formal, and elegant motions of this classical age of Japanese culture in which geisha are trained.
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.
Kyoto is considered by many to be where the geisha tradition is the strongest today, including Gion Kobu. The geisha in these districts are known as geiko . The Tokyo hanamachi of Shimbashi, Asakusa and Kagurazaka are also well known.
In modern Japan, geisha and maiko are now a rare sight outside hanamachi . In the 1920s, there were over 80,000 geisha in Japan, but today, there are far fewer. The exact number is unknown to outsiders and is estimated to be from 1,000 to 2,000, mostly in the resort town of Atami. Most common are sightings 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.
Geisha are often hired to attend parties and gatherings, traditionally at tea houses (茶屋, Chashitsu|ochaya) or at traditional Japanese restaurants (ryōtei) . Their time is measured by the time it takes an incense stick to burn and is called senkōdai (線香代, "incense stick fee") or gyokudai (玉代 "jewel fee"). In Kyoto, the terms ohana (お花) and hanadai (花代), meaning "flower fees", are preferred. The customer makes arrangements through the geisha union office (検番 kenban ), which keeps each geisha's schedule and makes her appointments both for entertaining and for training.
In 2007, the first Caucasian geisha debuted under the name of "Sayuki", in the Asakusa district of Tokyo.
Geisha and prostitution
There remains some confusion, even within Japan, about the nature of the geisha profession. Geisha are regarded as prostitutes by many non-Japanese. However, legitimate geisha do not engage in paid sex with clients. Their purpose is 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.
Geisha have been confused with the Edo period's high-class courtesans known as oiran, from whom they evolved. Like geisha, oiran wore elaborate hairstyles and white makeup, but oiran knotted their obi in the front. It has been commonly thought the obi was tied that way for easy removal, though anthropologist Liza Dalby has suggested that it was because it was the practice of married women at the time.
During the Edo period, prostitution was legal. Prostitutes such as the oiran worked within walled-in districts licensed by the government. In the seventeenth century, the oiran sometimes employed men called "geisha" to perform at their parties. Therefore, the first geisha were men. In the late eighteenth century, dancing women called "odoriko" and newly popular female geisha began entertaining men at banquets in un
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