Friday, March 9, 2012

Friday Art & History Feature - Geisha


I've always been interested in Japanese culture. Much of the interest comes from my practice of karate. Many Japanese cultural aspects seems very foreign and mysterious to the westerners. Japanese history is truly spectacular in many ways. Over the course of this blog, I will write a number of articles about various aspects of Japanese culture and history, including the samurai, ikebana, tea ceremony and much, much more.
Today, we'll take a look at another aspect steeped in mystery - geishas.


Geishas playing Shamisen (traditional Japanese instrument) today
Many have seen or read "Memoirs of a Geisha" and know of certain aspects of this profession.  Many recognize the white makeup a geisha wears.

Geisha playing Shamisen
There's many misconceptions and misunderstandings about what and who a geisha is. By definition, a geisha is an entertainer. Geishas are skilled in dance, playing traditional musical instruments, tea ceremony and the art of conversation. The word "geisha" comes from two kanji characters - (gei), which means "art" and (sha), which means "person". Women have a choice of becoming a 'maiko" or apprentice geisha first or training for a year and becoming a full geisha right away. This was not the case in the past, when most girls who were to become geishas started their training very early and were apprenticed for years of training before becoming full fledged geisha.

Maiko (apprentices)
 There are different theories on the emergence of geisha culture in Japan historically. Some say that it came out of a practice by some young girls, whose families were misplaced. They would be entertainers, and many also sold their sexual services. The more traditional form of geisha entertainment began to emerge when the imperial court was moved to Kyoto in 794. However, these were still not the geisha culture we know of today. That is emerged much later on, during the 18th century. It's interesting to note that the first "geisha" were men who entertained wealthy customers while they waited for their courtesans and other forms of entertainment. One of the first famous known female geishas was actually a prostitute who also possessed many other skills, including dance and playing music. She became very popular and young girls followed in her footsteps. Soon, most of them were only doing performance art entertaining without the selling sex part. The line between courtesans and geishas was drawn, and a geisha was more valued for skills other than sex.

Geishas dancing
 Prior to WWII, it was commonplace for a maiko's virginity to be sold to the highest bidder, a process known as "mizuage". While outlawed after the war, the practice still has been known to exist well into our times. While a geisha is a single woman, she can chose to have a wealthy patron, whose courtesan she may become. This, however, is not a rule. Often, geishas have boyfriends, but once they marry, they have to leave the profession.

Maiko in Kyoto
 Kyoto still remains the most popular place to see where geishas live and to enjoy their performances.

Geisha entertaining today

Geishas entertaining in the 1950s


Geishas are a true art form. They are highly educated women who have achieved top skills in performance arts and the art of conversation. They study hard and long to become the best in their profession. That is their appeal, and their mystery.

15 comments:

  1. Thank you for this lovely feature! I've always found geishas and the Japanese culture fascinating.

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  2. Thank you for this. I'm a quarter Japanese, and my daughter is half Japanese, and I've always been fascinated with the culture. Beautiful post. Do you know of any books on the subject? I've of course read Memoirs of a Geisha, but what about nonfiction books? If you know of any, I'd love to know the titles. :)

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    1. April, I've also always been fascinated with the Japanese culture! It's so interesting to know that you're a quarter Japanese.
      Like I mentioned in the post, I'll definitely be writing more features about the Japanese culture and history, as well as mythology. There's so much to learn!

      Check out these books on geishas:
      Geisha: A Life written by Mineko Iwasaki, who was one of the period's most famous geishas.

      Autobiography of a Geisha by Sayo Masuda, again written by a former hot-springs-resort geisha.

      Geisha, by Liza Dalby, who was the first non-Japanese woman to be trained as a geisha.

      There's also a few others. I'll look them up and let you know in the next few days :)

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  3. I also love Japanese culture, it was a big part of my studies in college, great post on Geishas!

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  4. I found this really interesting. I'm going to be sending a link for this to my daughter too. At fifteen she is incredibly fascinated by all aspects of Japanese culture and hopes to visit one day.

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    1. That's great. Hopefully your daughter will find this post interesting :)

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  5. I had the pleasure of visiting Gion when I took a trip to Kyoto back in 2009. I even got to see a performance of the Odori by the Maiko. It was quite stunning. Sadly, I was the onyl person in my whole group of foreigners who stayed awake for it. I think they were more interested in going to get drunk afterwards, le sigh~

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    1. I would love to do that! Hopefully one day soon...

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  6. Interesting learning more about this important Japanese cultural figure. I like to know that Geisha means art person. Well, the way they look while performing is just as beautiful as art. Makes me want to watch Memoires of a Geisha now.

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    1. Yeah, I actually took my DVD out, going to re-watch it soon :)

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  7. Great post. It made me consider picking Memoirs of a Geisha back up. I started it a while ago and couldn't get into it. Have you read Shinju by Laura Joh Rowland?

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  8. Thank you for this post Yelena ^.^
    There is also, I find, some interesting documentaries on youtube of people studying to become maiko and geiko etc.. This is fun to compare to Memoirs of a Geisha.. seeing the differences and the similarities

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrDGTUm2vBc&feature=plcp&context=C479cc24VDvjVQa1PpcFM19i3AnIcJyt7M_GilXOXD_xhrq2mcQcw%3D

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD_soR5XnoQ&list=PL82537F6005A1EB0C&context=C4ab7187ADvjVQa1PpcFOVISsTyJTqMD9lg4YGz1dSGpsFCd2OXTA%3D

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  9. Thank you for this blog. There are many myths surrounding the geishas. Japanese culture is fascinating and I love the conception of recreating nature, or in a miniature version, for example the bonzai trees. Besides Zen philosophy of course and the samurai's honorable codes, japanese culture is also interesting based on codes of honor. The modern day Japanese woman/culture offers variosu examples of new genres, such as japanese goth, bridging two worlds two cultures two worlds.

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