Behind Every Good Geisha . . .
If you read Memoirs of a Geisha, then you know that there a host of characters who help to create the whole mystery and allure of being a geisha.
Actually, the term geisha is a bit misused in the States. A taxi driver in Kyoto once berated me when I used the term, pointing out that in Kyoto, one must say geiko, which means something entirely different. A geiko, he insisted, is very clearly a practioner of the arts. The term geisha is unfortunately mixed up with lots of bizarre American stereotypes (his words).
Before a woman becomes a geiko, however, she is a maiko. The beautiful costumes and head-dresses that we all admire are actually the domain of maiko.
Last year when I was in Japan, I had the good fortune to visit a small, traditional family home where the wife and husband practice the traditional art of hand-embroidering the kinds of garments worn by maiko-san.
Above, you can see a small sample of the brilliant silks used to embroider basic silk fabrics.
The stitching is all done by hand. In the photos below, you can see the pattern loosely sketched onto the fabric; the needle and thread bring the design to life.
Maybe they were pulling my leg, but they told me that this particular garment belongs to “The most beautiful maiko-san currently in Gion.” Who knows if that is true (and if it is, I certainly hope she doesn’t 
read the Interent, and will not notice yours truly wearing her clothes), but I appreciated the idea that being a maiko-san is very much a living art and that people still gossip about who is beautiful, who is smart and who is not.
One interesting note; the husband and wife team insisted to me that these days very cheap hand-embroidered fabrics are coming in from China. They pulled a pile of garments out of a chest and began to say to me; “This is from China. This is from Japan.” They insisted that there was a visible difference as to the skill level.
I don’t know what to say about this except that it shows to me how much of a greater awareness there is of China looming to the West, with hundreds of skilled workers. I’m not sure I buy the idea that Chinese hands are less capable than Japanese; in fact I don’t. I will say that on my last trip to Japan I did see a number of new fans in the souvenir shops; the bright colors and unsual color combinations were definitely not a traditional Japanese aesthetic. All things — and all cultures — undergo change. Certainly the Japan of the early 1900s isn’t the same as the Japan of today, and only part of this is due to industrialization. We will see how traditional arts like kimono embroidery adapt and change as China grows more powerful.
This article was posted originally at Marie Mutsuki Mockett.
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that in ancient china if you were REALLY fat that meant you were...
omg i feel so bad for a that monkey help it some one plzzzz
I do wish someone would finally and for all time define geisha for us. Some Japanese people I know tell me that yes, honestly, to tell the truth, geisha were well paid prostitutes, they slept with many of their rich benefactors, sure, why not. The sex industry did not begin in Japan in 1959. It began long ago. So tatamae and honamae aside, can someone tell us the inside skinny, what is the difference between geisha, geiko and maiko?
And the sex part, nothing to be embarassed about. We all do it, did it, will do it. That is how we all got here, DNA-wise, no?
So let’s not be ashamed to say geisha were VIP whores. What do you think the rich men of those days did with the hard earned yen? Just play pachinko?
September 27th, 2005 at 12:36 amI also noticed the rather large number of Chinese-made items in the fancy orimono omiyage shops in Ashikaga, in the belt of longtime textile manufacturing centers on the northwestern edge of the Kanto plain. The Chinese plant-dyed, hand-stitched textiles were certainly more affordable than the Japanese ones. These textile centers (Kiryu, Ota, etc.) later turned to airplane parts, automobiles, and pachinko machines, the latter more likely to be manufactured by Japanese robot arms than Japanese human hands.
September 27th, 2005 at 7:29 amGeisha were not VIP whores, regardless of what your Japanese friends told you.
They were/are entertainers for private gatherings.
Whores do it with anyone for the money. Geisha choose to do it if they want, when they want, and with whom they want to do it.
September 27th, 2005 at 1:15 pmTry this from the archives, second half.
http://japundit.com/archives/2005/08/03/964/
September 27th, 2005 at 1:17 pmThe Chinese textile industry is becoming/is an issue in Sino-American relations as well: http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?sm=Yahoo%21+Search&toggle=1&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-web-t&p=chinese+textile
September 27th, 2005 at 1:52 pmWhores do it with anyone for the money. Geisha choose to do it if they want, when they want, and with whom they want to do it.
So what you are admitting, saying, is that geisha did sell their bodies to customers if and when they wanted to. Selling spring is prostitution, there are no ands ifs or butts about it. Why is everyone so afraid to come out and admit that geisha were and are selling spring? Okay, they were not whores, street walkers, hookers, but they did far more than entertain than clients. Come on! Skinship is skinship, and the girls got paid. The discussion would be a lot more solid if people just admitted that sex was on the table, too. To keep insisting, oh, they were just entertainers, “artistes”, that just smacks of Puritanism. Most Japanese will tell you the truth. Just ask. Ask Mineko the woman in Kyoto who told the author of MEMOIRS all about the real geisha subculture, sex and all. Ask her. She will tell. She did. s Stop clouding the issue, everyone! They did it, often. Very often. They were not Isadora Duncans…
September 27th, 2005 at 2:52 pmI don’t think that there is anything hidden to “admit.” No one is saying that geiko-san never sleep with clients; the difference is that they had and have always had the choice whether or not they choose to do so. In this way, geiko-san are able to have “relationships” rather than wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am type experiences. A prostitute has no choice but to have sex, and the man expects that she will. The same can’t be said for a geiko or maiko. Money alone won’t get you sex with a true geiko-san, though it can guarantee you a night with a prostitute.
Wikipedia does a nice job of explaining how this issue became confusing to the West during the Occupation when girls did dress up and call themselves “geisha,” but were in fact prostitutes without the rigorous training a geisha must go through.
As for Mineko-san; I have read both Memois of a Geisha, and her own autobiography which makes it clear that she chose to have a relationship with a man — a famous actor. This leaves the whole “auctioning off virginity” part of Memoirs of a Geisha to be suspect at worst, and a mystery at best. But Mineko-san isn’t proof of any new information that needs “admitting,” as you request in your post. What’s more, she did sue Arthur Golden; I believe that case is still pending.
But I think what is interesting to note is how this myth persists and how badly people want it to be true. That says a great deal about human nature, and the ongoing relationship between East and West, and how we view and want to view each other.
September 27th, 2005 at 3:10 pm“So what you are admitting, saying, is that geisha did sell their bodies to customers if and when they wanted to.”
You’ve never heard of kept mistresses? That doesn’t sound like whoring to me.
September 28th, 2005 at 11:30 amprostitues DO have a choice who they have sex with and wheather they wish to follow that profession or not in the first place! geishas dnt even get a choice wheather they wana be a geisha or not!! (talking about the times when this culture was at its height during the early 1900’s) they were sold to okias at an extremly tender age!!! geishas may entertain by singing and dancing and only have sex if they wish so how do you explain the misuage?? (howeva u spell it) geikos were not true geikos unless this ceromoney took place!!! so whats that about??? men bidded to take their virginity! slightly whorish i tink, atleast whores choose who they have sex with!
November 1st, 2005 at 9:37 am
I think everyone is too hung up on worrying about prostitution and claiming it is wrong, but it is okay to have a mistress. What’t the difference? People pay for everything else, why not sex, and why is it illegal? It would be a much healthier profession for all if it was legal, they would have proper medical care, pay taxes, and leave the police to do more important jobs. It’s time to drop Puritanism and Victorianism and face reality. Prostitution is here to stay, so ladies, stop being jealous of them and berating them. Make your husbands happy and they probably won’t go to prostitutes.
January 12th, 2006 at 9:37 amGeisha are NOT prostitutes. Sex is NOT part of their work. They practice the traditionnal Japanese arts of singing, dancing and conversation. Tayuu and Oiran are the high-class Japanese prostitutes.
January 22nd, 2006 at 1:30 pm[...] izon and war is ugly). Yes, you can find practitioners of old arts like lacquer making and kimono embroidery, but these things aren’t the focus of the majority of the population. There [...]
March 24th, 2006 at 6:19 amokok-
March 29th, 2006 at 7:31 amGEISHA ARE NOT PROSTITUTES!
ofcourse, we all have sex at some point, and so do they, but it is not all their lives are made up of. infact if you read memoirs of a geisha, that women maybe did it w/ a few more guys than she was supposed too… but im sure we all would have done the same thing.
geisha literally translates to gei=art sha=person.
the early geisha were prostitutes, but i suppose things have changed
the rumor of geisha being prostitutes must have originated after WWII being as american soldiers coming back from japan told every body about these women who were called women of pleasure(yujo) who were prostitutes.
a yujo is a prostitute- dresses like a geisha, but rather ties her obi in the front instead of the back. by tying it in the front, it is easier for her to take it on and off all night.
also, they donot practice the arts like geisha such as shamisen, tea ceremony, dance, convesation, fue, and even drums and acting.
haha… i seem big headed now… sorry!!:mrgreen::roll:
Very beautiful embroidery
October 18th, 2008 at 7:31 amI am a geisha, I know you will never believe this but that kimono belongs to me. It’s very foolish to say that geisha’s is attractive to sex, but sure enough kasunomonia(beautiful) geishas are sure sukast(sexcy). well, I sure am beautiful, but no one believes that I had not had sex even 1 time in my whole life. so, you see that kimono belongs to me, I wounder who posted this.
January 24th, 2009 at 8:56 am[...] what is a Geisha? A whore? a artisan? a pretty dancer? a puppet for the higheset dollar? a sex [...]
May 8th, 2009 at 2:50 pm