The history of geisha Essay Example for Free

The history of geisha Essay The history of geisha is often rooted to the 11th century into two noble women who invented a new dance on which they entertained the warriors. In order to represent the court dress of the warriors these women donned white outfits, and they wore tall hat, long white gown, and swords sheathed on their waists. The dance remained and as time progress the costumes changed into a black hat and red skirts and eventually the hat along with the sword were taken away from the picture. On the other hand, there are also some versions in the history of the geisha from which people believe that geisha were originally males who gave entertainment in a society they refers to as the water world. As time goes on there had been a huge transformation and came the emergence of female geisha. As the geisha’s popularity increased they started to entertain in tea houses and started setting the trend of those which are in in the Japanese culture. In 1779, however, the authorities were outraged with the way the geisha conducts their selves without paying taxes to the government and thus disciplinary rules were established along with a code of conducts which is still being uphold in today’s time. Geisha claim that they do not sell their bodies, but their skills and for that they should not be compared to a prostitute. Fact is, geisha are highly respected and admired people in society. Geisha are well aware of the rules of their profession and they are given a choice on whether they want to continue being a geisha or not. Since the geisha knows beforehand everything which they would face in the name of their profession they accept all their duties and do it them perfectly. Geisha could also be affected by the public in that they are â€Å"walking work of arts† and it is their goal to please those people to whom they are performing. The public’s acceptance and appreciation of their effort matters greatly to a geisha and this is basically the reason why they continue to hone their skills all throughout their lives (Cobb, 1998). Geisha is a Japanese term which basically means â€Å"artist†. Geisha are proficient hostesses who are well adept in keeping their guests amused by means of numerous art presentations. They could normally be seen in tea houses which they call O-chaya. Geisha are educated in several customary skills like Japanese ancient dances (Chiyo was noted to dance one of these dances alone in one part of the movie Memoirs of a Geisha), and songs. They are also educated in handling musical instruments and that is basically the reason why they play so beautifully. Aside from that, the geishas usually wear kimonos and they are highly proficient in tea ceremonies, calligraphy, conversation, serving the guests with alcoholic beverages, and many more. Geisha would have to study and strive to perfect all of these skills all throughout their careers (Downer, 2001). The success of a geisha is based on the way they exhibit beauty, grace, artistic skills, charisma, flawless good manners, sophistication, and elegance, thus contrary to what others may think, geishas are not prostitutes who make their livings by selling their bodies because in the contrary, geishas sells their skills and not their body and this is primarily the reason why in the movie Memoirs of a Geisha one of the ladies who handles geisha became so furious when she caught one of the geisha with a sperm on her legs, as a result the lady gave severe punishment to the geisha in question (Cobb, 1998). The only ones allowed in geisha houses are those guests who are established customers of the establishments and they do not take on new clients unless they are introduced by one of their old customers (this was also seen in the movie Memoirs of a Geisha). Basically, the being a geisha is an extremely expensive and exclusive business, in fact, geisha parties could cost a person thousands of American dollars. In 1920s geisha were about 80, 000 in number, however nowadays existing geisha are only about 10, 000 in number and this is partly due to the westernization taking place in Japan (Mishima, 2007). The roles of a geisha include training their selves in a variety of traditional arts like classical dancing, knowing how to play the Shamisen, and singing. Nowadays, geisha could also act as a model and they could even attend international tours. The work of a geisha is to entertain their guests at expensive tea houses, they would have to serve the guests their drinks, they have to talk with them, and most especially guests go to geisha houses to watch them perform. Geisha keep various different relationships with men, and yet they could not be called prostitutes. It is considered proper for a geisha to have herself a patron or what they call danna whom she is greatly involved with. Their involvement could come in financial, emotional, and even sexual terms and yet it is for the geisha to decide whether she wants to have a danna or not. Geisha could always be seen with their hair fashioned in a bun and they always wear chic kimonos and white make-ups (Marshall, 2005). Geisha also entertains at business meals and parties but these could costs a sizeable sum of money. One could rest assure that whatever it is talked about inside the premises would never be repeated by the geisha outside, also one should not expect geisha to do one-night stands because they do not, nor do they cook or serve their guests with food (Marshall, 2005). Basically, there are two kinds of geisha, the other one is referred to as tachikata (usually made up by maiko girls) and they mainly perform traditional dances the other one is called jikata (usually made up by older women) who usually perform by singing or playing an instrument (Marshall, 2005). Geisha are usually those who are daughters of a geisha or those who were sold by their relatives to an O-chaya. A large number of geisha were sold by their relatives because they either lost their parents or the family could not afford to raise them because of poverty. At the beginning of Memoirs of a Geisha, this was clearly depicted when Chiyo and her sister were separated and Chiyo ended up in the hands of an O-chaya (Fisher, Spielberg, and Wick 2005). The O-chaya would spend considerable amount of money in order to train beautiful young girls into the art of becoming a geisha. It is mainly the duty of the okamisan (mother who runs the O-chaya) to teach the girls into becoming proper geishas. The training is hard and rigorous, another aspect which was carefully portrayed in the movie. Upon reaching the age of 15-20 these girls eventually becomes maikos and they are made into an apprentice of a geisha, in Chiyo’s case the geisha she was apprenticed into is a vicious female. By the age of 20 a maiko is faced with a decision if she wants to carry on becoming a geisha or if she wants to quit. The initiation ceremony of becoming a geisha is called erigae, this also the same time when the girl’s virginity would be sold to the highest bidder (another factor which had been clearly illustrated in the movie), however, this kind of arrangement no longer takes place in today’s time. Basically, geisha are respected women in the society and they are known for their skills and beauty. They could not be likened to prostitutes in any way because surely, prostitutes are not admired by people and certainly they are not looked upon by young girls (in the Memoirs of a Geisha, Chiyo could be seen admiring the dresses, make-ups of a geisha, she is seen peeping and admiring the way a geisha conducts herself). Geisha are one of the most respected profession in Japan, in fact it is possible that it is the only profession in Japan a woman could have which would make her consistently rank her above men in the profession. Geisha also gives women opportunities to work in spite of their old age and due to the cultural and traditional values associated in this maintenance of traditional art geisha are given and treated with a great deal of respect they otherwise would not be able to acquire had they been given another profession (Fisher, Spielberg, and wick, 2005). Most geisha accepts their roles in the society and they even find their fate better that of other women. Most geisha have an intimate relationship with one of their clients and they are often referred to as the geisha’s patron. In traditional Japanese, almost every marriage was arranged by the parents or other relatives in order to ensure their status in lives. Due to this particular course of event, Japanese men were often found with two women in his lives, the one being the wife while the other is the woman the man really loves. It is then considered natural for powerful and influential men to have such arrangements in their lives and most of these women happen to be a geisha. However, a relationship between a geisha and her patron is not often based on love, usually they only manage to find contentment and some sort of a happy relationship without being tied to one another. Although a geisha and her patron may have an affectionate relationship it is not always based on love. In a way this somehow retains the contentment in spite of being married to the woman one does not love. As was mentioned earlier most geisha came from poverty stricken families and as such, marriage to a man of higher rank is somehow impossible for them, however, their status as a geisha gives them the chance to select which man she would have as a patron and she could have a happy life with her loved one which would have been impossible had she not been a geisha (Downer, 2001). The relationship between a wife and a geisha is not also strained or bad since geisha are not seen as a threat to marriage. Customarily the wife and the geisha have a different role to play in the Japanese society and as was already mentioned earlier most relationship between a geisha and her patron is not based on love and thus they are not seen as a threat to marriage. In fact, women usually know the identity of their spouse geisha and there are even times when the wife and geisha meet together. Geisha usually visits the house of their patron particularly during Obon Festival or New Year festivity on which the geisha would offer some sort of present to their patron’s wives, they also, at times, do some performances meant for the family of their customers. There are even times when a wife seeks the help of a geisha in persuading her husband into doing something. Geisha’s are also present in the funeral of their patron’s and most of the times they are the ones in charge in making the necessary preparations something which the family accepts and welcome especially in their time of grief (Cobb, 1998). It is thus a sad thing that the umber of geisha are dwindling due to the westernization of Japanese culture as well as for the fact that geisha comes in expensive prices, something men are no longer very willing to pay especially since there are those hostesses who are not as expensive as geisha are. Another reason why their numbers are dwindling is because the training to be a geisha is very expensive and demanding. Most geisha nowadays (including those which could be found in Kyoto) is not really the same as the traditional geisha of before. In fact, the numbers of real geisha are low and they could mostly be found only in Kyoto. It is even probable that years from now â€Å"real geisha† would no longer be available. Although most westerner sees geisha as some kind of prostitution, such is not the case. Nowadays, geisha themselves chooses to be a geisha because of their love for art and in this regard there is basically no reason why this should be seen as a prostitution of some sort (Downer, 2001). Basically of the facts stated earlier in this paper regarding the lives of a geisha were clearly portrayed in the movie â€Å"Memoirs of a Geisha†. Although you could fault the movie in other ways, one could not really say that the movie or the book from which it was based was made without thorough and meticulous research on the lives of a geisha. As mentioned earlier, most geisha were sold on O-chaya by their relatives because of poverty and this is also what happened with Chiyo and her sister. Chiyo, though was easily accepted in the O-chaya because of her beauty and blue eyes. However, her sister did not meet the same fate and thus, she was sold elsewhere. The public treats a geisha with respect and admire their so many skills and the geisha reap the rewards of their hard labor to perfect so many arts once they are greatly admired by their audiences. Hatsumomo, the vicious geisha Chiyo was apprenticed to saw a threat and a rival in Chiyo’s person, and this is because geisha are respected figures and they are greatly admire by people. One reason probably why Hatsumomo acts the way she did is because she had been so drunk with the glory she reaped from the public from being an excellent geisha that she does not want to share any of it to Chiyo. She also fears that all of those glories would be taken away from her because of Chiyo’s potentials, not to mention the fact that she fears that the O-chaya would be left to Chiyo instead of her. Influence of people could also be seen in the movie when Chiyo, as a young girl was shown kindness by a good gentleman she met in the market, from then on Chiyo promised herself that she would be an excellent geisha and she would make the gentleman she met, her patron (Fisher, Spielberg, and wick, 2005). It was mentioned earlier that maikos were put under tutelage of geisha so that they would be able to better master the art of becoming a geisha. This particular aspect of a gisha’s life was also seen in the movie in that although the geisha Chiyo was apprenticed to a geisha with a vicious streak, Chiyo still had the good fortune to be apprenticed to another geisha, â€Å"Mameha†. Under Mameha’s tutelage, Chiyo blossomed into the butterfly she really is. Again, a geisha is not an exalted prostitute, rather a geisha is a social entertainer adept in many skills and this was also finely illustrated in the movie. In the movie, they show what a geisha really is like. Geisha represents the mysterious and rare ideal of Japanese femininity; this is evident in that every little detail from flower arrangement to the proper etiquette ought to be present in a geisha. In an O-chaya, no one could fault a geisha for anything in that they worked hard and rigorously to ensure that their attitude and skills are perfect when they are faced with guests (Cobb, 1998). Before, a geisha’s virginity is sold to the highest bidder, and this was mentioned earlier in this paper. However, such things no longer occur at today’s point in time. The setting of the movie â€Å"Memoirs of a Geisha† though happened in the early 90s and thus there was a scene wherein a geisha’s virginity was sold to the highest bidder. The movie also illustrated how the most successful geisha becomes mistresses of the most powerful and influential men in the country. A geisha knows this stuff, and as was mentioned earlier in this paper they are given a chance on whether a maiko wants to continue becoming a geisha or not. Thus, a geisha have to accept everything which accompanies their line of profession an this easy acquiescence was evident when Choyo (or Sayuri, her geisha name) did her best to please the chairman while alternately struggling against and submitting to the attentions of the Chairman’s business partner, Nobu, a creepy doctor, and The Baron (Fisher, spielberg, and Wick, 2005). As was mentioned earlier in this paper Japanese marriages are usually decided upon by the family and they are usually based on how they could better retain or enhance their current situation in the society, thus Japanese marriages are not based on love but on convenience and among geisha’s role is to better this course of event by stimulating men who are aggravated with their arranged marriages. The geisha plays an important role in making these men enjoy their selves with intelligent female companions without the geisha having the need to have sex with these men just to please them. The Westerners usually views a geisha as a very expensive prostitute but a prostitute nonetheless. However, Japanese knows better and that although the geisha’s job requires them to please their customer and to somehow flirt with them if necessary, the customers still knows that nothing could come out of those light-hearted innuendos since a geisha is prohibited to engage in a sexual intercourse for money, not even for love and thus the only course of action for an in love geisha is to leave her profession and marry (Cobb, 1998). The notion that a geisha is an expensive prostitute may be traced in the times when Japan was occupied by Americans since a number of prostitutes pretended to be a geisha and sold their bodies to American GIs. It is then that when the American GIs left for their homeland the notion that a geisha is a prostitute was instilled in their minds. In the movie however, they showed real geisha who did not stick with the rules and one of them is Chiyo’s best friend, who sold her body to American GIs. However, the film was still successful in showing what a geisha’s life is like and this is not surprising considering the fact that the story was derived from a real life experience of a geisha (Berardinelli, 2005). To conclude, geisha are not prostitutes, instead they are what others refer to as â€Å"Walking Form of Art† in that they were highly adept in so many kills which requires artistic talents. A geisha is a respected member of a society and this is also one main difference they have with a prostitute. A geisha is treated by society with respect and not contempt and they also have impeccable manners which made it easier for people to respect and admire them at the same time. A geisha also knows the rules and regulations of being a geisha and they accept them without questions since for them acquiescence is a must. The public or their customer’s approval as well as being able to hone their artistic talents is among the greatest reward which could attract a person into becoming a geisha, however only a select few are allowed the chance to be one since geisha needs to be beautiful and to talented at the same time. In this regard, one could never really say that geisha are not to be respected and they are nothing but expensive prostitutes for they are not. A geisha is a walking form of art and they are treated with respect by the society. Works Cited Berardinelli, James. â€Å"Geisha. † (2005). December 8, 2007 http://www. reelviews. net/movies. html. Cobb, Jodi. Geisha: The Life, the Voices, the Art Knopf; New Ed edition, 1998. Downer, Lesley. Geisha Headline Book Publishing; New Ed edition, 2001. Memoirs of a Geisha. 2005. Lucy Fisher, Steven Spielberg and Douglas Wick. Mishima Shizuko. â€Å"Japanese Geisha† (2007). December 8, 2007 http://gojapan. about. com/od/geisha/. Underwood, Eleanor. The Life of a Geisha Smithmark Publishers, 1999.