Geisha girls entertain men, at parties in
restaurants or tea-houses. The
Japanese word geisha means "art person," and singing, dancing, and
playing the flute. They excel in
flower arranging, performing the tea ceremony, or calligraphy. Geisha provides
an atmosphere of chic and gaiety for her wealthy clientele. Geisha are dressed in traditional
kimonos and delicately mannered and have a knowledge not only of the past but
also of contemporary gossip.
The geisha system is thought to have emerged in the
17th century to provide a class of entertainers set apart from courtesans and
prostitutes, who plied their trades respectively among the nobility and
samurai. The geisha system was traditionally a form of indentured labor,
although some girls, attracted by the glamour of the life, volunteered.
Usually, a girl at an early age was given by her
parents for a sum of money to a geisha house, which taught, trained, fed, and
clothed her for a period of years. Then she emerged into the society known as
karyu-kai, the flower of the willow world and began earning money to repay her parents'
debt and her past keep.
The most sought-after geisha could command large
sums from their customers. Besides providing entertainment and social
companionship, geisha sometimes maintained sexual relationships with their
clients.
In the 1920s there were as many as 80,000 geisha in
Japan, but by the late 20th century their number had dwindled to only a few
thousand, almost all confined to Tokyo and Kyoto, where they were patronized by
only the wealthiest businessmen and most influential politicians. This decline
in numbers was chiefly due to the easier availability of more casual forms of
sex in postwar Japan; bar hostesses have taken over the geisha's role with the
ordinary Japanese businessman.
When a geisha marries, she retires from the
profession. If she does not marry, she usually retires as a restaurant owner,
teacher of music or dance, or trainer of young geisha.
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