The Japanese Geisha 

Article by Zara Barua. Edited by Liam Geoghegan. Additional Research by Lauren Puckey. 

Picture this: a young Western traveller voyages to Kyoto, Japan, seeking the delights of Japanese sensuality in the form of a Geisha, who he believes will be some sort of legal prostitute. He reaches the destination of Gion and asks where he can get “hooked up with one of those Geisha”. The process is not as simple as he presumed; he has to be referred by a previous client but finally he finds himself wining and dining with beautiful Geisha, dancing and entertaining him in elegant kimonos and magnificent make up. Many cocktails later, he has fallen in love with one of the Geisha and wants to take her home. “But I paid for the service!!!” he yells, having been refused by his favourite girl, and he returns back to his hostel confused and feeling ripped off. 

It wouldn’t surprise me if this has happened before. Despite many attempts to create accurate representations of Geisha, still Westerners have a warped image of young girls selling their sexual talents to rich men. Speaking to friends and family about writing an article on Geisha, nearly all brought up the novel and film Memoirs of A Geisha, written by Arthur Golden, telling the story of a young girl who becomes a Geisha and takes part in the process of mizuage, selling her virginity to the highest bidder. Is this an accurate illustration of the art of Geisha? 

If we look at Geisha history, it is incredible how much they have changed. In the late sixteenth century, the pleasure quarters (walled-in areas for brothels) were created. Naomi Graham Diaz explains that the women there were high class courtesans and that after the defeat of the Toyotomi Clan, the wives and children of high status samurai fell into prostitution in order to survive, which she argues would ‘explain the high cultural level and elegance of earlier courtesans’. There were many different classes of these courtesans, the highest being the Tayuu. Tayuu were the most beautiful and talented women, blessed with the privilege of being able to reject any of their clients’ advances if they so wished. They were clearly worshipped by men and women. These “pleasure quarters” were nicknamed “the floating world” as they allowed men to delve into escapist fantasies accompanied by surreal women vying for their attention. Memoirs of A Geisha illustrates this with Sayuri, the protagonist Geisha, narrating ‘Geisha is an artist of the floating world. She dances. She sings. She entertains you, whatever you want’. 

In 1617, a specific area in Edo (now Tokyo) collected together all prostitutes and brothels, becoming known as Yoshiwara, “the Field of Good Luck”. The illegal prostitutes were made to stay inside the walls of Yoshiwara and eventually a strict set of rules called the Kenban was created. Since this new group of women were rivalled by courtesans, they needed to offer something different – extraordinary artistic talent. By the end of the seventeenth century, there were yet more geisha-like women called Saburuko, who also resorted to selling sexual favours to rich aristocrats due to their social displacement. Going into the 1700s many new groups and classes of courtesans arose with new styles and talents, adapting to different fashions. One new class which entered the scene was primarily comprised of men. This isn’t to say there were men swanning about in Kimonos, plastered with white makeup and red lipstick; they were more like jesters, entertaining with music, storytelling and poetry. These men were the first male Geishas, called Geiko or Taikomochi. Soon enough a female version came along. Whilst the male Geiko remained just entertainers, the female version were exploited further by their parents and descended into prostitution. Thus, up until the 1800s, there many different types of Geisha-like entertainers and most were prostitutes, who offered artistic entertainment as well. 

In The Asian Mistique, Sheridan Prasso tries to reveal what she calls ‘the Real Memoirs of a Geisha’, a chapter in which she interviews Mineko Iwasaki, the inspiration for the character of Sayuri in Arthur Golden’s novel. Prasso comments that although Golden ‘calls Miss Iwasaki a good friend and credits her with correcting his every misconception about the life of a geisha…the end result was a book that still distorted the truth’. In fact, Miss Iwasaki sued Golden for misrepresenting her character. Prasso takes from the discussion ‘that the worst crime in her mind is confounding the practices of prostitutes or lower-class geisha with those of High Gion, namely that the Sayuri girl has her virginity auctioned off in a system of mizuage’. Iwasaki explains that ‘the most prestigious geisha district’ of Gion is divided into different parts. There is Gion Kobu, or High Gion, of which she was a member, and in which Golden’s novel is set. But there is also Gion Otsubu (“the pleasure quarter”) and Gion Higashi (East Gion). She insists that in these two areas ‘the geisha are of a lower class, perhaps willing to indulge in sex for money’, but this would never happen in High Gion. Iwasaki asserts that never had she known a geisha to sell their virginity and they never would. Both Liza Dalby and Lesley Downer have made similar mistakes when talking about the process of mizuage. Iwasaki’s own comments may have been misinterpreted, as mizuage can refer to a fisherman’s daily catch or a geisha’s monthly earnings. 

William Johnston depicts geisha more clearly, claiming that they ‘were, in a sense, equivalent to super-models, popular singers and screen actresses all rolled into one’. 

He goes on to say ‘well trained geisha, unlike most prostitutes – also embodied genuine artistic accomplishment and social sophistication’, providing an ‘artistic interlude in an evening’s entertainment that otherwise inclined towards more carnal activities’. Thus, indeed pre 1800s, the line between high class prostitutes and geisha may have been hard to define. However from the late eighteenth century, geisha were, and still are, strictly artistic performers as the name suggests, “gei” meaning “art” and “sha” meaning “person”. 

So what does this tell us about the Japanese Geisha parties and the role of gender? Well, it’s clear that we should be careful not to associate geisha parties with prostitution although there is a history of geisha-like prostitutes in Japan. Perhaps there is flirting, drinking games, singing, dancing but nothing more. Maybe that is why married men find geisha so appealing; they can escape their wives but not technically do anything wrong! Most modern women are no longer stuck in the traditional role of serving the man, however, if you really want, you can have a woman pour your drinks, dance for you and laugh at your jokes. Beware though; it will cost you a lot of yen.

← Back to Volume 1

← Back to Issue 2