Understanding the Facts, History & Myths

Have you ever had the chance to watch the movie: ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’? Or at least read the book? I’ve done both at a young age and I instantly fell in love with Japan’s geisha as I witnessed their unique beauty, grace, and discipline. In fact, ever since then, I have been deeply enamored by their mystifying world — which, thankfully, has still survived up to this day!

I say ‘survived’ because I was also interested in the samurai (Japan’s olden warriors who typically serve a feudal lord or daimyo). I badly wanted to witness their noble way of life; however, it stumbled upon the upsetting fact that they no longer exist.
.
Apparently, their social class has died down around the late 1800s after the emperor favored a modern western-style army. Today, there may be descendants and people who still try to practice samurai swordsmanship, BUT it’s not the same given how the whole samurai lifestyle and system are non-existent anymore.

The geisha tradition is not as old as the samurai but it IS old and I must say… I’ve developed some sort of mild fear that they might eventually disappear too — which I hope to goodness, they won’t. This worry of mine makes a bit of sense because there aren’t that many of them anymore. To put it into numbers, back in the 1920s geishas numbered around 80,000. The current number? It is now estimated to be only 1,000 to 2,000! Because of this, I’ve actually made ‘meeting or seeing a legit geisha‘ as an item on the very top of my bucket list.

Thankfully, I’ve already made that dream come true from some of the many trips I’ve done to Japan! For instance, I talked to a geisha in Tokyo and Kyoto over a dinner banquet, I played games with 2 young senior maiko in Niigata, I caught sight of a legitimate maiko (who was on her way to work) in one of Kyoto’s narrow alleys, and I even watched two young Japanese maikos perform in Gion Corner among many others.

I definitely feel lucky for having the chance to undergo these breathtaking experiences, and now that I have met and seen them, my wish for their practices to continue for eternity has been strengthened even more! It is also my wish that more people would get to know their tradition — and the real one at that.

I say this because there is a LOT of misunderstandings about the geisha profession. In fact, ‘Memoirs of a Geisha‘ is a prime example of this! Since it was made in Hollywood, it surely had several aspects that were false (if not overly romanticized) thereby contributing to the already growing misconceptions of the culture. Thanks to my discussions with several geishas, as well as to my long research sprees, I have come to learn MORE of the truth.

Today, I will be imparting that knowledge with you so that you too can be cleared of any misconceptions that you may have about them.

~ Topmost photo from Shutterstock

Geisha Facts

» What is a Geisha?

A geisha, which translates to English as “performing artist” or “artisan”, is a high-class professional and traditional female entertainer in Japan trained in various forms of art. In the west of Japan such as in Kyoto, they use another name which is geiko. Whereas in the Kanto area (around Tokyo), they call them geigi. For Tokyo and other places, they just commonly use the word geisha.

For the sake of consistency in this article, I will use the word geisha. Besides, it is a widely recognized term that is used to encompass both that of western Japan’s geiko/geigi and Tokyo’s geisha.

Geishas are usually hired to attend to guests (who are predominantly and traditionally male) during banquets, meals, parties, and other occasions as they demonstrate their skills through various ways such as dancing to a tune played with a shamisen (a Japanese stringed instrument), initiating games, doing the art of conversation, and more.

For these affairs, they meet up with their guests at an ochaya* (tea house) or at a ryōtei (traditional Japanese restaurant) and charge their customers by the hour with flat fees.

» What Is a Maiko?

A maiko, which translates to English as “dancing child”, is an apprentice geisha.

Historically, a maiko starts her training at a young age of around 3 or 5 years old. But now, their training starts at a much later date. In Kyoto, they start at 15 or 16, and in Tokyo, they start at 18.

Nevertheless, any girl who wants to enter the community does not have to begin as a maiko because it’s said that they can already proceed to be a geisha. Still and the same, they are required to do at least a year’s worth of training before debuting as a full-fledged geisha. For women who are aged 21 to 23 and above, they are deemed to be too old to become maikos so they already become a geisha when they get accepted to the community — again, still with training beforehand.

In Tokyo, maikos are called as hangyoku (“half jewel”) and they can remain to be so until they are 23. For the sake of consistency in this article, I will use the word maiko.

History of Geisha

» The First Geisha

Geishas started to appear in the pleasure quarters of Japan before the turn of the 18th century — but one interesting fact that you must know is that the first geishas were actually men, called taikomochi (drum or taiko-bearer, though not all of them used this Japanese drum) or hōkan (jester).

These male geishas basically started as ‘jesters’. They attended to daimyo (feudal lords) in the 13th century and provided entertainment, if not help advise their lord about military strategies. In the 16th century, they became storytellers (otogishu or hanashishu) and even battled alongside their lord at times. When peace began in the 17th century, they rather had to change their role to being pure entertainers.

The first female geisha (onna) appeared around 1751 and she was called a geiko (which now remains to be the term for geisha in Kyoto). Eventually, teenage odoriko who were expensively-trained “dancing girls” or dancers-for-hire started to appear as well.

By the end of the 18th century, female geisha outnumbered the males and the latter’s roles have once again changed — this time around, as assistants to the women during parties. As time passed further on, being a geisha was mainly regarded as a female occupation. It became so widespread that a lot of them started to work primarily as entertainers. Anyone who was selling sex (which was against their intended kind of work) were imprisoned in order to protect the oiran who were licensed high-class courtesans or prostitutes at that time.

Today, there are only about 8 taikomochi in Japan — 4 in Tokyo, 1 in Kyoto, and the rest are scattered around the country.
.

UPDATE: I was told that as of 2012, there exists a working geisha who also owns an ‘okiya’ and he is male! His name is Eitaro, dubbed as Japan’s only male geisha who performs as a female dancer, and he is found in Tokyo’s Omori district.

When World War II began, geishas started to decline. They had to close their okiya (geisha houses) and the teahouses, as well as bars, had to close shop as well. As a result, they went to other places in Japan for safety or for work (such as in factories, etc.). It didn’t help either that some prostitutes started to refer to themselves as “geisha girls” to American military men.

Nonetheless, when the war ended, the returning geishas made it a point to reinstate their traditional standards as highly-skilled entertainers, and at the same time, they proposed increased rights for their profession.
.

» Is an Oiran a Geisha?

Not at all! As I’ve previously mentioned, the geishas set themselves apart from oirans who were high-ranking courtesans.

Today’s Geisha

» Current number

The geisha tradition is dwindling due to its exclusivity, expensive price, and traditional form; nevertheless, it is in Kyoto where it remains to be the strongest today. Kyoto is also the pinnacle area where meeting geishas remains to be the best and most prestigious in its five hanamachi (geisha districts or “flower towns”), namely: Gion Kōbu, Ponto-chō, Kamishichiken, Gion Higashi, and Miyagawa-chō.

Top Myths

1 MYTH: Geishas are prostitutes.
TRUTH: Geishas are NOT prostitutes.
They are and always will be highly-skilled entertainers. It helps to note as well that prostitution is illegal in Japan ever since 1956. Plus, even though there were some of them in the olden times who offered sex to their clients, it helps to note that it was NOT a part of their true traditional function or training — call them rebels if you will, and they might just be so since as I’ve discussed previously, a geisha is imprisoned in the past should they ever offer sex to others casually (also as a way to protect the oiran).

Of course, a geisha is free to pursue personal relationships with any man that she meets through work; but such would most likely never be casual nor will it ever be her goal for such an interaction. They live in a geisha district (hanamachi) which is a very closely-knit community, and given how greatly they value their reputation, they would always pick their relationships carefully. Should they ever fall in love and want to marry, then sometimes they must retire because geishas (most especially in Kyoto) are expected to be single. Nevertheless, there are now a lot of places in Japan like Tokyo that allow married, divorced, and/or women with children to become geishas.

2 MYTH: Geishas have personal relationships with a patron or danna.
TRUTH: This is NOT true today.
It may have been a tradition in the past for them to take a danna or a patron who was wealthy enough to support the expenses related to her training and other costs in order to have a personal relationship in return (which was not inherently sexual). But today, it is very unusual for a geisha to have a personal relationship with a danna, and should they ever have one (which is rare because most of them love to be autonomous now), it’s mainly because of the patron’s desire to help prolong the geisha arts and traditions — nothing more. Again, a geisha and her danna can fall in love but intimacy is never viewed as an exchange for the danna’s financial support.

3 MYTH: Young girls are sold to okiya (geisha houses) by their parents because of poverty.
TRUTH: It may have happened way in the past, but nowadays, NO.
Today, there are no young girls sold to an okiya due to poverty; after all, it is more of a personal career choice in order to become one. In fact, a lot of girls have to persuade their parents today in order to let them become a maiko/geisha. Once a girl’s parents consent to it, she will have to be interviewed first by the association as well as the female owners of the okiya (geisha house) before being accepted.

4 MYTH: Geishas are led by men and money (as portrayed in the movie: Memoirs of a Geisha).
TRUTH: This is NOT true.
It helps to always remember that the movie was mainly fictional and set to be ‘sellable’ to audiences. (Well, hello Hollywood!). Being a geisha is like being an artist or a performer — it’s a respectable profession. And much like any career you pursue in life that you are passionate about, you do it because you love it while also earning your living from it. They don’t go around chasing after men either; it just so happens that the people that they present their art and performances to are predominantly men.

5 MYTH: Maiko goes through mizuage wherein a patron would pay to take their virginity. (As also seen in ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’).
TRUTH: Nope, not at all!
This kind of mizuage was actually a ceremony done by young courtesans and prostitutes in the past — NOT by maikos. Though there are speculations that this mizuage (taking of the virginity) was done by some maikos in the past, what’s important to remember is that this is NOT done today nor was it ever traditionally accepted to be done by geishas for their maikos. The only kind of mizuage that maikos have done was a ceremony wherein older geishas would symbolically cut the topknot of the maiko’s hair to signify her coming of age (of becoming an adult).

How to Become a Geisha

Training to become a geisha in which you start as a maiko begins at 15 or 16 in Kyoto and 18 in Tokyo (in the past, it started at 3 – 5 years old). These days, girls must have at least graduated from middle school (except Kyoto who has special laws for it) before they can make the decision to train as a maiko and eventually become a geisha.

However, it is more common for young Japanese women to start training after high school or college, and a lot more would begin later. If they are above 21 to 23, they will already start as a geisha (with a year’s training) since they are too old to be a maiko. Having said that, one doesn’t have to start as a maiko since they can already start to train as a geisha — but of course, the allure of the overall comprehensive training process as you progress from a maiko to a full-fledged geisha can be quite an experience. It can also add more to one’s hype or reputation in the community.

So in order to become a geisha, once you reach the age requirement, you or your parent need to contact, for example, Ookini Zaidan or the guild for all of Kyoto’s hanamachi businesses. You must fulfill their other basic requirements, namely: you must not be taller than 160cm, you are at least 43kg in weight, are willing to train in the traditional arts for years without contact with your family, etc. Once they consider you a good candidate, they will send out your profile to okiya houses that might be interested in training you.

NOTE: An okiya will shoulder all your expenses for food, training, clothes, etc. once you are accepted by them. From that point onward, you are bonded by a contract, and when you start working, you can slowly pay off these debts.

If you are non-Japanese, Kyoto is a hard environment to crack in so you’re better off applying to other places like Tokyo. If not applying to an okiya yourself, it will be a lot better if you know someone who can introduce you to an okasan or a mother of an okiya/geisha house. Speaking of which, do NOT try to apply if you don’t know the Japanese language yet; otherwise, absolutely no okiya will take you!
.

» Maiko Training

» Debuting as a Geisha

How to Identify Geisha & Maiko

As you visit Japan, take note of the below points to help you quickly differentiate a geisha from their apprentice (maiko):

» Age

As I’ve already discussed, maikos usually start their training at a young age (15 to 16 for Kyoto and 18 for Tokyo) so they are much younger than a full-fledged geisha who often start at around 21 to 23.
.

» Makeup

.On a typical day, a maiko will be seen wearing the most recognizable feature of geishas: the full white face makeup. Geisha, on the other hand, do NOT have this makeup on unless they are going to do a special performance or dinner banquet.

Maikos will always have a noticeable white band of unpainted skin on their hairline (since they don’t wear wigs) and their eyebrows will be shaded in red or pink, their cheeks blushed, and their eyes outlined with black eyeliner and red eyeshadow. During the early stages of their training, ‘junior’ maikos (or minarai) will only have their lower lip painted in red, and as they advance (as ‘senior’ maikos), both of their lips will be painted but only in a thin line.

For geisha who need to have their face painted when they work, apart from having no visible part of exposed skin near their hairline (given that they wear wigs), their eyebrows will also only have a faint shade of red, their eyes outlined in black (if a ‘senior’ geisha) or with a slight red (if they’re a ‘junior’ geisha) and their lips painted fully in red.

.

» Hair

Geishas usually wear wigs, whereas maikos have their hair styled naturally. A geisha’s wig and a maiko’s natural hair are regularly styled by highly-skilled artisans. Lately, however, traditional hairstyling is slowly phasing out because it can sometimes lead to balding on the top of their head. Nevertheless, it remains to be practiced.

Maikos have their hair styled in the wareshinobu style consisting of two “wings” and a big bun at the center; but when a maiko turns senior, she will put on an ofuku hairstyle and this usually starts after 2 to 3 years of being a maiko (the only difference with the wareshinobu style is how the ofuku style has a rectangular piece of cloth pinned at the bottom of the bun with no red fabric sticking out).

The wig worn by geisha is called katsura that is styled in the taka shimada hairstyle. At times, this wig can change and styled into a kyoufuu shimada style. In times when they are not wearing a wig, geishas put up a yohatsu hairstyle which literally means ‘western style’ since it is modeled to western updo’s or perms.

.

» Outfit & Footwear

KIMONO. A maiko usually wears a colorfully-designed hikizuri kimono (Japanese traditional garment) that has furisode or long-sleeves garment that almost touch the ground (commonly worn by unmarried women), along with a wider, longer, and heavier obi (sash) that is set to look like a bow as it drapes down to their back showing the end which has the kamon or the logo of the maiko’s okiya or geisha house — this obi is actually called as a darara obi. A maiko’s collar is also a distinct feature because it is thick and embroidered, hangs very loosely, and is mainly in the color red (other colors can only be gold or white). It will slowly have white embroidered patterns as they advance in their training but it will always remain to be dominantly red.

TRIVIA: Wanna know the most expensive item in a geisha or maiko’s outfit? It’s the pocchiri or obidome which is an accessory on the obi (belt) made of expensive real jewels such as jade, agate, quartz, pearl and more that can easily match the price of a luxury car. Customarily however, a pocchiri accessory is only usually worn by a maiko.

Geishas, who are more mature, wear more subdued but refined kimonos with shorter sleeves (kosode) that are usually in one color with a simple pattern at the bottom. Their kimono is also said to be in the tomesode style or the most formal kimono a married woman can wear which is essentially signifying their maturity. Also, their obi is shorter and it looks like a square bow knot at the back called a ‘taiko musubi obi’. Lastly, their collars are completely white and are not as loose. (Nevertheless, both maikos and geishas wear kimonos according to the season).

NOTE: Wanna try and wear a kimono? There are kimono rental shops in Tokyo! Read here to learn more.

TRIVIA: Wondering about the ‘bag’ that they usually bring along with them? That’s called a kago or a bag with a bamboo base and it contains business cards, dancing fans and other accessories — but never electronics, as they are not allowed to bring them while working. Moreover, even a maiko and geisha has differences in the bag: maikos have bright and colorful kago, while geishas have minimal or solid-colored kago.

FOOTWEAR. Maikos generally wear high wooden sandals to prevent their kimono from touching the ground, and they are called as okobo. Geishas use shorter wooden sandals called zori or senryo geta. Maikos will wear this too if the situation calls for it; but they wear okobo more.

.

» How to spot fake a maiko and geisha

You might have heard of makeover (henshin) studios in Japan that will dress tourists up as a geisha or maiko for a day. With this in mind, if you have ever seen one while you are around popular spots in Japan — like in parts of Kyoto or Tokyo — it is highly likely that you have witnessed or took a picture with a fake one.

To help you identify and spot these tourists who are only dressing up, see below the several features that they will possess. Ultimately, henshin studios make it a point to NOT dress up their clients authentically; otherwise, they will be shut down by the authorities.

• They have mismatched hairstyles, makeup, and clothing. Taking into consideration the descriptions that I’ve made previously of authentic geishas and maikos’ features, a tourist in disguise will always have a wrong mix of characteristics. For example, most of them will have the decorative long hair ornament (of a junior maiko) yet with both her lips painted (like a senior maiko or geisha) and with a wig on (though some shops can now do your hair too). They will also have shorter sleeves on the kimono despite being dressed up as maiko.
  ^.
• They are walking around crowded areas. A true maiko or geisha knows that she is sought out by tourists and they can get ‘mobbed’ in a sense; so, you will NEVER find them walking through a populated area while in their full regalia. What they usually do is walk through back streets and alleyways in order to avoid the crowd. Hence, if you ever see a maiko or geisha walking casually through a well-known place, she is surely a tourist dressed up as one.
  .
• They are out during the early time of the day. Geishas and maikos commonly work in the evenings; though it’s possible that they are booked for an early banquet, it almost happens rarely.
  .
• They are willingly taking photos with others. Geishas and maikos are actually paid for the time that requires them to get from point A to point B; so when they are out on the streets, they will never stop by to take photos with tourists. (You can always ask them though if you can take a photo, but do it quick). Therefore, if you see one who is taking her sweet time pleasing a crowd of tourists to take a photo of her (unless it’s an official event) then she is a tourist who had a makeover.
  .
• They are accompanied by other people who are in normal clothing. Saw a geisha or maiko with an elder or a companion who has to aid her while she walks in her high wooden shoes? That’s a tourist. Real geishas and maikos are trained to walk well with their zori or okobo sandals. Besides, they always know their way around town too. If they are ever accompanied, it will usually be by a young girl in a kimono who will carry her belongings (as mentioned previously, this will be a new maiko in training who is called a ‘shikomi’ or ‘minarai’).
  .

Actually, you wouldn’t be aware of it but you might have had a legitimate geisha or maiko in your midst especially when you’re walking around in Kyoto. When they’re in their normal clothes (such as a yukata), identifying them will naturally be tough — unless you are a fan who recognizes their face or unless they are wearing their signature kimono and traditional white makeup (shiro-nuri).

NOTE: There’s another kind apart from henshin tourists whom you could easily mistake as legitimate geishas and maikos, and they’re called furisode-san or kimono-san.
.

An established business by ‘Furisode Gakuin’ at Tokyo’s Asakusa district in the 1990s, these furisode-san are paid entertainers only who mimic the look and services of geishas and maikos at a cheaper price (usually around 25,000 yen or $250 for a 2-hour party). They only have about 3 months of training and again — they are NOT real geishas nor maikos.
.

In fact, most of the geisha experiences that you might have read in other travel blogs are actually experiences with a furisode-san. How do the Japanese feel about these people? A mix of approval and disapproval. Approval since they help gather interest in real geishas; disapproval since they deem it as disrespectful to the real tradition.
.

How then can you ensure that you’re not booking an experience with a furisode-san? Apart from the cheap price as an indicator, make sure that you book through legitimate travel agencies who only seek to provide real geisha/maiko experiences (note: I will update this section soon with relevant links for booking legit geishas).

Where to Find and Meet Geisha?

The geisha world needs to survive. It used to only be exclusively available for the rich or well-connected Japanese, but now it’s possible for other people as well as tourists to meet and see them through travel agencies and hotels.

But certainly, like I mentioned above, a private face-to-face dinner banquet or party can still prove to be pricey. If such is the case for you — don’t fret because there are still other ways to see REAL geishas and maikos at a much affordable price as listed below…