Such a geisha and she does it. Who are geishas really (5 photos). The easiest way to distinguish a prostitute from a true geisha is to look at the belt of her kimono

Literally from Japanese the word “geisha” is translated as “man of art.”
The word “” in the Russian language appeared as a result of an incorrect transcription of the English spelling of the word “geysya”. Geisha can be translated as “a person of art” or “a person with skill”, “craftswoman”, this word indicates the main characteristic of geisha - these are women who are perfectly able to entertain the public using the techniques that were in use in the 18th-19th centuries – dancing, singing, jokes, including those with pronounced erotic overtones. During the merry feast, unlike modest Japanese wives (who are usually not invited there), they do not allow tipsy men to indulge in witticisms, sometimes making them blush. Emphasized eroticism, coupled with indirect affiliation with the “gay quarters” and the status of an “eternal bride” (there are no married geishas) gave rise to the myth of easy accessibility. They themselves consider identifying them with prostitutes () if not an insult, then at least a gross mistake.
, not sex, casual conversation, not knowledge of 48 poses - that’s why go to a geisha?. One way or another, everything speaks about the creative nature of this profession.
This is easy to verify by simply looking at geishas up close. Their entire appearance, in fact, is a mask, which is determined by their traditional position in society. Elegant, with high ancient hairstyles (today they are wigs), they are far from reality and are more reminiscent of beauties from the 18th-19th centuries. However, upon closer examination, it is difficult to call them beauties - an incredibly thick layer of powder turns even young, pretty faces into unnaturally white masks with teeth blackened in the old fashion. Little of, You can often find middle-aged and even elderly geisha. Time adds strength and aroma to good wine, and skill and sophistication to geishas.

The birthplace of geishas, ​​has long been the stronghold of this profession. At the beginning of the 19th century, there were already five entertainment districts where they worked. Now there are six of them: the elite and world-famous, the less prestigious but more democratic Ponto-cho, and the little-known Higashi-shinchi, Miyagawa-cho, Kamishitiken. In the alma mater of the first geishas, ​​Shimabara, things are now so bad that, most likely, its “masters” will become part of the legends in the near future.
In general, the whole thing is a continuous chronicle of unprecedented ups and downs that almost wiped them off the face of the earth. For the first time, Kyoto's “flower quarters” - hanamachi, found themselves faced with a severe crisis after the capital was moved from to in the 70s of the last century. Along with the main clients - members of the government, major officials and senior officers, most of the income also moved there. The danger was so great that, left without such a serious source of budget replenishment, the mayor decided to hold a special holiday in 1875 - geisha festival. A brochure was even published on this occasion in English, which was practically unknown in Japan at that time. The idea turned out to be so successful that the festival was held several more times, and since 1952, it has been held twice a year, and has become a kind of calling card.
The areas in which geisha communities were located were called “flower streets” (hanamachi).
An entire quarter has been preserved, where people have been living for more than two hundred years. Traditional two-story houses with a clear geometry of external grilles today, unlike in earlier times, look mysteriously secretive. Previously, this quarter, along with geishas, ​​was inhabited by many masters of artistic crafts who served them. They created jewelry, shoes, various accessories, musical instruments, fans, and household items. The descendants of some of them continue to live here and work for the geishas, ​​thereby enhancing the protected atmosphere of the area.
The geisha of Kyoto are the most famous in the country. They have become part of what makes this city so attractive. They can be seen at various festivals - they hold events, give small performances and by their very presence bring the aroma of antiquity.

Every year in May, people from all over the country come to Kyoto to admire the dances. Outwardly, they look like the same wonderful ones, only the ends of the brocade belts are not tied, but loose at the back. This beautiful spectacle has become one of the festivals of national traditions.
Only in Kyoto there is a school where girls from the age of seven or eight begin to be taught the art of geisha - the ability to sing, dance, put on makeup, put on and wear a kimono, play the shamisen - a three-stringed instrument with a long neck, conduct a tea ceremony, various entertaining games and, of course , special skill in conversation with men.
It is believed that one of the main reasons for the attractiveness of geishas for Japanese men is their relaxed conversation, natural communication with them and the ability to flatter male pride, which women of other social classes, bound by traditional conventions, which formed, or rather, shackled the female national character. Geishas were part of the entertainment system. Concerned about morality, the government isolated the “fun quarters”, moving them outside the city limits. So in 1617 the famous Yoshiwara in Edo (Tokyo) , and in 1640 - Shimabara in Kyoto
. These quarters were very densely populated. Their main inhabitants - the “priestesses of love” - were completely dependent on their owners, with whom they entered into contracts for certain periods, and sometimes the owners simply bought girls and young girls from impoverished parents. , although they were closely associated with these quarters, they did not live in them. They were invited only as performers and hosts of various feasts. So they earned their living in a different way than , but you could also arrange a date with them.
and are very close to each other, not only because they lived in the common space “kuruva” (enclosed place), as the “fun quarters” began to be called after isolation, but also because the historical lines of their existence are intertwined in such a way that it still remains some confusion: which one is which? Joro were divided into ranks - from the highest paid tayu and tenjin to street, unclassified, prostitutes.

By the end of the XVII - beginning of the XVIII century. have already firmly occupied their specific niche in city life. On the one hand, they were outcasts in society, and on the other, celebrities, trendsetters and destroyers of men's hearts. Their popularity contributed to the flourishing of a new genre in painting, and then in engraving - bijinga (“paintings of beauties”). In fact, the geisha is the progenitor and true custodian of the modern deity - style. A sense of style, which in her case was called iki is everything for a geisha
For all her super-well-mannered, restrained and tactful nature, she is brave, free in every sense, including financially, to the point of thoughtlessness, has impeccable taste, relaxed and sincere, elegant, even extravagant in moderation, and rushes around the world without thinking about the little things, completely focusing only on being on the crest of the wave, on its very edge. The fact that her wave has remained in the past is not her fault, but the whole of Japan, which lost its competition to the West. And the elite, who lost to the masses and mass culture. It has been around for a long time - since the thirties of the twentieth century, no longer in front, in the back, in tradition, in a kind of cultural ghetto, from which the pole of public life has left, albeit not so far. Perhaps, at the end of postmodernism, fashion will generally lose its avant-gardeness and finally turn into the past - into ethnic tradition. Then it will again reach the very crest of the wave, where it belongs.
But let’s return to our “willows”. As well as Geisha have no right to get married without “getting out of business”. Only “mothers” have this right. The transition from was usually accompanied by the loss of virginity (in Japan, after the transition from a girl to a woman, it is customary to change the hairstyle and tuck it, and once married women generally blackened their teeth). This procedure took place almost like a ritual, it was called mizu-age, and it was performed by one of the elderly and respected clients Hanamichi. Over the course of a week, he came to her to drink the yolks of three eggs and rub the whites into the labia, each time deeper, so that, finally, on the seventh day, he could enter the calmed girl.
By concentrating on the entertainment side of the business, geisha gained more and more popularity. Especially valued and respected geishas from Kyoto, cities with ancient cultural traditions. However, geisha were not limited to traditions, but constantly invented new types of hairstyles, new dances and songs. When, by the middle of the 19th century. persecution of prostitution began, the time of the courtesans quickly passed, and, having somewhat changed their image, they finally came to the fore and in the end were left alone on the pedestal of Japanese higher eroticism and aesthetics of sex. Beautiful women with whitened faces and patterned clothes are now revered as the highest symbol of traditional culture. Their life is shrouded in various legends.
For a Japanese, being invited to an evening with a geisha is a great honor. For him, she is both the embodiment of a dream and a faithful accomplice at the same time. Geisha fill the evenings of wealthy Japanese with unobtrusive animation and at the same time give the meeting a powerful erotic charge.
Outwardly extremely reserved, they are capable of playful jokes, while maintaining an aura of good manners and detachment. When it comes to sexuality, the Japanese do not recognize taboos. Erotica, like singing and dancing, is a high art for them.
In the presence of a geisha, any man, be it a director of a company or a minister, turns into a child dreaming of her favor, which, by the way, may be denied to him.
However, you need to be Japanese to appreciate the very fact of being invited into geisha society. If only because money doesn't matter here. Need recommendations. After all, a visit to a geisha is a kind of ticket to a closed club for the respectable public.

Today, many geisha continue to live in traditional geisha houses, but some, especially in the capital, Tokyo, have become much more self-sufficient and independent. The traditions of the profession have been preserved mainly in Kyoto, in the prestigious areas of Gion and Ponto-cho.
There are very few geishas left in modern Japan, even in Japan, so if in the 1920s there were more than 80 thousand geishas throughout the country, now their number does not exceed a thousand, of which there are about a hundred. Even Gion's visitors

😉 Greetings to curious readers! Who are geishas in Japan? I hope that in this article and video you will find a detailed and understandable answer.

Japanese geisha

Communication is the main thing in people’s lives, neither gold nor rags, but sincere human communication. And if your friend or interlocutor is a pleasant and intelligent person, it’s always a holiday!

A geisha is a highly educated woman who entertains her guests or a guest (client) by dancing, singing or pleasant conversation on any topic during the tea ceremony.

She is dressed in a kimono and wears traditional makeup and hairstyle. Her profession is denoted by two characters: “art” (gei) and “man” (xia), meaning “person of art” (geisha).

In conversations, a geisha is an excellent psychologist. After a visit to such a psychologist, men regain spiritual harmony and gain confidence in themselves and their abilities. Any man feels like a king with a wise and sophisticated woman who will inspire him that he is the best.

A little history

Initially, only men were geisha. These were the ringleaders, like a toastmaster or a mass entertainer.

More than four centuries ago, the first professional female geisha appeared in the Japanese city of Kyoto. Soon, representatives of the fairer sex ousted men from this work. At the beginning of the 19th century. the term “geisha” became a designation for an exclusively female profession.

More often, girls from poor families became geishas. Only capable and pretty girls were chosen for training. In a difficult school they were taught, fed, clothed, but also assigned the dirtiest work around the house. Corporal punishment was practiced at school.

Previously, girls' education began at the age of ten, but today it starts strictly at sixteen.

In the strictest discipline, young girls were taught:

• playing musical instruments;
• conducting a tea ceremony;
• dancing;
• poetry;
• singing;
• foreign languages;
• subtleties of appearance;
• the art of massage;
• basics of etiquette.

The training cost a lot of money. When the girl started earning money on her own, she gradually paid for her studies.

Geisha, 1926

Interesting fact. If, after learning the profession, the student (maiko) does not lose her virginity, she cannot be considered a real geisha. This is the only moment in a girl’s life when she provides a sexual service to a client without fail. Differences:

• red collar kimono - student (maiko),
• the white color of the collar is already a geisha.

The candidate for the right of the first night was selected with special care. And this right cost a lot of money. And then girls are not obliged to provide intimate services to guests. A geisha has sex with a man solely of her own free will and more often with her patron.

The client will never dare to ask this super-woman for sexual services.

Danna

A first-class geisha must have at least 28 kimonos made of the finest silk. Why exactly 28? According to Japanese tradition, the year is divided into 28 seasons. The color and design of a certain kimono corresponds to the time of year. Each kimono costs several thousand dollars!

Often a geisha had her own patron - “danna”. She spent most of her working time with him. The trustee must support the girl, which for him was considered an indicator of prestige and well-being.

Often the trustee had children from her, whom he also took care of. A patron is legally prohibited from marrying his geisha. And a geisha has no right to get married while in this “business”.

Geishas never provide intimate services to clients. If she has sex with a man, it is solely of her own free will.

Damaged reputation

The image of an elite, educated and sophisticated geisha was greatly damaged by rude American soldiers during the Second World War. The word “geisha” began to be identified with the image of representatives of the oldest profession. You can distinguish a geisha from a Japanese one by appearance:

• for representatives of the oldest profession, the kimono belt is tied in front with a simple knot in order to easily get rid of clothes and shoes on bare feet;
• The “porcelain beauty” - geisha - has a large number of difficult knots at the back of her kimono. And her feet are in snow-white socks.

Secrets of a geisha

The modern geisha speaks several languages ​​fluently. Knows how to maintain a conversation on any topic and create a comfortable atmosphere in any company. She has information about current events in the country and abroad. Real geisha:

• strives for self-improvement;
• well-groomed and tidy;
• monitors health, appearance and posture;
• knows how to listen and hear the interlocutor;
• will answer the question with a smile;
• has a rich vocabulary and delivered speech;
• will not judge or impose his opinion;
• modest, calm and submissive;
• is in a good mood;
• does not violate the rules of etiquette;
• light flirting does not go beyond the bounds of decency;
• knows how to keep secrets and mysteries;
• it is impossible to offend her;
• behaves with dignity;
• knows how to win and keep any man;
• radiates positivity and love for life.

As you can see, the behavior of a Japanese beauty is similar to that of a European one. In any case, there is something to learn for young girls and mature women. After all, it’s never too late to improve and work on yourself. This is personality development.

Having comprehended these wise secrets, many women will maintain freshness of feelings with their partner or spouse. This video provides additional information to the article “Who are geishas in Japan”

Dear readers, now you know who a geisha is. Was the article “Who are Geisha in Japan” helpful to you? Share this information with other people on social networks. 🙂 See you again!

Modern Japan seems to me to be a country of technocrats reading manga on a smartphone screen. What about sakura, geisha and samurai honor? I recently visited an exhibition of geisha outfits, which inspired me to take an excursion into history and understand who are geishas, and what role they have in modern Japanese society. Are traditions still alive?

How did geishas appear?

I never classified geishas as hetaeras or courtesans, intuitively understanding that in the east not everything is divided into white and black so simply. Geisha translates as "man of art". Both words are very important in the further interpretation of this concept.

A person can be either a woman or a man, right? The first geishas were originally... men. In modern Japan you can find single representatives who are more correct to contact "hokan" or "taikomochi".

Between the 13th and 16th centuries, Japan experienced internal wars between kingdoms over control of territories. Local "time of troubles". Was always with the master strategic advisor, who took on the functions of a friend, joker and toastmaster in order to ease the military burden. At the beginning of the 17th century, civil strife ended with the victory of one general, the city of Edo (today Tokyo) became the capital, and no one needed the merry advisers.

Where could they go? They found their place in brothels, entertaining rich guests with vulgar stories and anecdotes. At that time they began to be called “geisha”. Geisha men are artists, first-class speakers, and actors. You can call them "showmen" in a modern manner.

Interesting things to know about male geishas:

• they never did not provide intimate services(like female geishas);
• had an extraordinary intelligence and sense of humor;
• wore traditional for men clothes and hairstyle, did not use makeup;
• in modern Japan there are several male geishas who imitate girls in clothes, makeup and wear wigs.

Why did female geishas appear?

After the capital was moved from Kyoto to Edo there was a need to build roads, since the distance between the two major cities was considered decent. Inns began to appear, at which there were necessarily tea houses. If male geishas can be called modern “showmen,” then female geishas can be compared to “hostesses.” They increased the popularity of establishments, attracting clients with its beauty, manners and intelligence. It was not peasant women who became geisha, but the daughters and wives of samurai who died in recent wars.

Later she could become a geisha any girl even from a poor family. First, she went through a tough selection, then strict training, and if she passed all the tests, she grew up beautiful and promising in the opinion of her senior mentor, and became a geisha. In the 19th century, female geisha were irrevocably replaced the geisha men being more in demand.

Geisha in modern Japan

I will list a few features from the life of modern geishas:

• Tea house- a privileged place where the ordinary tourist is not allowed to go. You can only attend the ceremony with a real geisha by recommendation.
• A foreigner can “book” dinner with geishas in a restaurant. The services of a geisha, a translator, and payment for food will cost a few hundred dollars minimum.
• The largest geisha association is located in Kyoto: about two hundred experienced girls and several dozen of their students. Less than a century ago, the count was in the thousands.

Geisha are one of the most iconic images we associate with Japan. If there's one thing most Westerners can say they know about Japan, it's that they had those female prostitutes who covered their faces in thick white paint. One problem: they didn't. Geisha were not prostitutes, and they did not always cover their faces with white paint. And for a while they weren't even women.

10. The first geishas were men

The first female geisha appeared in 1752, before which the very idea that a geisha could be a woman seemed strange. Before this, geisha were men for several hundred years. They weren't called geisha until the 1600s, but they existed 500 years before that.
Since the 13th century, there have been people who did exactly what geisha did: they entertained noble men, gave them tea, sang for them, told them funny stories and made them feel like the most important people. They entertained the guests, bringing joy.
By the 1800s, it had become common practice that geisha were women.
To this day, the Japanese call female geisha geiko because in Japanese, geisha means a man.

9. Geisha are not prostitutes


Despite what we have heard, a geisha did not sell her body. In fact, geishas were strictly forbidden to sleep with their clients.
Geisha were hired to entertain male clients, and the men waited their turn, having fun with real prostitutes - courtesans called oiran.
Some brothels even prohibited geisha from sitting too close to men for fear that they would steal oiran clients. This was something that geisha prided themselves on. In the 19th century, the geisha motto was: “We sell art, not bodies.” “We have never sold ourselves, our bodies, for money.”

8. Geisha - a man of art


Geisha were people of art - in fact, that's what the word geiko means. Geisha studied music and dance for years and it never stopped. No matter how old a geisha was, she was required to play music every day.
Many of them played a stringed instrument called the shamisen, and some wrote their own music.
They were famous for writing "melancholy" songs and developing slow, graceful dances filled with complex symbolism. It took years to acquire these skills. Geisha began to learn from the age of six; geisha houses had their own art schools. On average, you had to study for at least five years to be called a geisha.

7. Prostitutes called themselves Geisha to attract Americans


There's a reason we think of geishas as prostitutes. When the American military was stationed in Japan at the end of World War II, prostitutes flocked to them in droves and called themselves geisha. Of course, they weren't real geishas - they just knew that the exotic fantasy of a Japanese geisha would seduce foreigners. And at the end of the war, Japanese girls were in such dire straits that they were ready to sleep for food. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese girls slept with American soldiers in exchange for money. By 1949, 80 percent of American soldiers stationed in Japan were sleeping with Japanese girls, usually prostitutes who called themselves "geisha girls."

6. Geisha with white paint on their faces were underage girls


The picture that appears in most of our minds when we try to imagine a geisha is of a girl with an elaborate kimono and jewelry in her hair, her entire face covered in white paint.
This is not exactly what a geisha looked like. Geisha would cover their faces with white paint for special occasions, but they generally wore much more subdued makeup that was not too different from the makeup that any other woman might wear.
The girls who walked around wearing white paint during the day were maiko: underage students who were training to become geisha.
These young girls dressed the way we imagine a geisha today. The white paint and ornament they wore was actually a symbol of inexperience; The more experienced the geisha was, the more flamboyantly she was allowed to dress. By the time the geisha was considered one of the best, she completely got rid of white face paint.

5. Geisha's predecessors were women who dressed like men


There was another group called the Shirabyashi, which could be considered an early version of the geisha. These early geishas were women, but they did everything they could to make sure their clients didn't notice. Because they dressed like men. Shirabyashi were dancers. They wore white makeup, told stories, put on shows, played music and entertained guests. They essentially served the same function as geisha, except that they all dressed like male samurai.
No one is 100% sure why these women insisted on dressing like men, but the most popular theory is that they had samurai as clients.
At that time, most samurai accepted boys as lovers. It is believed that these girls dressed like boys simply because that is what the men they were trying to impress wanted to see.

4. Most geishas had bald tops


One sure way to identify a geisha from a costume is from the bald spot on the top of her head. At work, the bald head was covered with a wig or comb. They got bald during training as maikos. Maiko had particularly extravagant hairstyles that required pulling out a narrow tuft of hair from the top of her head. Geisha called their bald heads a "maiko" medal. In Japan, this was considered a sign of pride. This was a clear sign that they had been studying for many years. Of course, it wasn't always as good in Europe as it was at home. One geisha returned humiliated, telling her friends that Europeans could not understand how a bald head was a point of pride.

3. The old geisha was more in demand


Not all geisha were young. The heyday of geishas was between 50 and 60 years old; it was believed that at this age a geisha was more beautiful, smarter, and more experienced.
Usually, by the age of 30, geisha were allowed not to whiten their faces.
A geisha retired if she got married, but if she wanted to remain a geisha, she continued to be one as long as she wanted. The world's oldest geisha still working, Yuko Asakusa, is 94 years old and has been working as a geisha since she was 13 years old. She is usually hired by politicians and incredibly wealthy business clients who are willing to pay a little more.

2. Geisha training was so strict that it is illegal today


Modern geishas are not quite the same as they were before.
In the good old days, a geisha's life usually began with her impoverished family selling her into a geisha house, and her training began when she turned six years old.
Today there are about 250 geiko and maiko working in Kyoto, compared to the 2,000 who worked there a century ago. The geisha of today, however, is very different from the geisha of yesterday. They do not begin training until they are 15 years old, they do not work alongside courtesans, and they do not go through a rigorous training system. Some geisha houses today offer only one day of training per week. In 1998, some parents actually tried to sell their child to a geisha house, but it didn't quite work. They went to prison - human trafficking is illegal these days.

1. There is also a male geisha


There are still male geishas. There are a surprisingly large number of men who still work as geishas. Up to 7,000 male geisha work in the Kabukicho district of Tokyo.
The comeback of male geishas began in the 1960s, when the market opened up to wealthy women who were bored while their husbands were at work. These husbands often did not handle business transactions in the geisha houses, and the women believed that they deserved their own geisha houses, so they began hiring men to entertain them. Today, there are several clubs where women can hire “male geisha,” more commonly called husuto. They usually don't have the artistic talents of the geishas of old, but they can still drink with women, flatter them and make them feel special.

Mysterious and attractive, invariably well-groomed and beautifully dressed, in silk kimonos and with amazing hairstyles - the Western world never ceases to admire Japanese geishas. Their profession is compared with whomever: toastmaster, escort girls, and sometimes simply women of easy virtue.

TodayAmateur. mediawill understand the history of this amazing tradition and try to find out who geisha really are.

When did geisha appear?

The history of geishas dates back to the 17th century, when the first representatives of this profession appeared in the cities of Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo. No, no, there is no typo here, namely representatives: initially, surprisingly, men acted as geishas. Most often, these were artists of the traditional Japanese Kabuki theater, who dressed up as jesters and entertained clients of prostitutes at feasts.

Initially, men acted as geishas

This is probably why the word “geisha”, consisting of two hieroglyphs in Japanese, is literally translated as “person of art”. It is obvious that geishas have a close connection with representatives of the oldest profession, but initially they are still not the same thing.

Kabuki Theater. Traditionally, all roles are played by men

Kasen of Yoshiwara is considered the first female geisha. In 1761, she broke up with her work as a prostitute, paying off her debts, and officially became a geisha. At the same time, a division of geishas appeared into those who only entertained guests with their talents, the so-called “white geishas,” and those who slept with clients, they were called “tipping geishas.” A little later, the law prohibited geisha from engaging in prostitution, but many still continued to earn money in this way.

Kasen of Yoshiwara is considered to be the first female geisha.

GeishaVScourtesans

Errors in the perception of the image of geisha arise in the Western consciousness due to popular, but generally factually inaccurate books, such as Memoirs of a Geisha. In general, the “relationship” between geishas and prostitutes is quite complex. It is believed that a geisha should only entertain guests - hold banquets and celebrations, meet guests in tea houses, engaging them in conversation, playing musical instruments and dancing, and conduct tea ceremonies.

A modern geisha can be ordered to accompany you to a banquet.

A modern geisha can be ordered to accompany you to a banquet or theater, but ordinary geisha do not provide additional services. This is sometimes done by “onsen-geisha” - girls who lack skill. In Yasunari Kawabata’s famous novel “The Land of Snow,” just such a geisha is described. In addition, an official geisha may have a “danna”. This is a kind of patron of a woman, often a lover, from whom a geisha has children. Danna pays for the geisha's outfits and helps her find influential clients. Sometimes a danna may simply be a patron of the arts, that is, there is no love relationship between him and the geisha.

Geisha dancing

Differences in knots and studs

A real geisha can be distinguished from a yujo (a woman who sells her body) externally. A geisha's kimono is tied at the back with a complex, beautiful knot that cannot be untied or tied without outside help. They also apply makeup and put on a geisha kimono with the help of specially trained people or students in their home. Courtesans, on the other hand, dress more simply; their kimono is tied with a simple knot in the front, which is easy to tie and untie several times a day. In addition, depending on the status, the decorations in the hairstyles of prostitutes varied: different numbers of hairpins with various pendants and combs, while geisha were allowed to wear only one simple comb and hairpin.

A geisha's kimono is tied at the back with a large complex knot.

A geisha's kimono is tied at the back with a large complex knot.

Geisha training

Previously, the girl ended up in an okiya, a geisha house, as a child, where she was often sold by poor parents. Now, according to the law, girls must receive a certificate of secondary education and only after 15 years can they go to work for geishas. In a geisha house, girls essentially become maids, doing the cleaning. A little later they become assistants to senior geishas.

Geishas continue to train throughout their lives.

In parallel with this, the girls are trained: they attend geisha classes, which are devoted to music, dancing, ikebana, painting and other things that will help the geisha entertain the client. In addition, all geisha are required to understand politics and current events, because sometimes they have to maintain a conversation with high-ranking officials. Geishas continue to train throughout their lives.

Geisha in training

After six months, girls take an exam and undergo a kind of initiation ceremony called “misedashi”. From now on, girls officially receive the title of “maiko,” that is, geisha students. In addition, each maiko receives an older sister, a kind of mentor who helps her in training, and when the younger sister starts a career, helps her find clients. The success of the future geisha depends on the influence of the older sister. Often the eldest geisha of the house becomes the elder sister. To create conditional ties of kinship, a special ceremony is held, which has a close connection with wedding traditions. Often the younger sister is compared to the bride, and the older sister to the groom.

Leaving the profession

Of course, a woman can stop being a geisha, because, in fact, this is exactly the same profession as any other, and when entering an okiya, girls enter into a contract. The tradition of the holiday of departure was borrowed by geishas from the quarters of prostitutes, where a woman’s departure from prostitution took place when she paid off her debts and became a free woman.

The work of a geisha is exactly the same profession as any other

When a geisha leaves her home due to old age or marriage, she sends all her teachers, friends and clients a gift of a box of boiled rice.

Nowadays, the profession of geisha is no longer so popular, because the traditions of which they are considered the guardians are already outdated. But nevertheless, from year to year, girls still appear who want to connect their lives with this unusual activity.

Ekaterina Astafieva