VTG HAKATA CLAY GEISHA FIGURE STATUE JAPAN JAPANESE DOLL FIGURINE HOME DECOR OLD

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VINTAGE JAPANESE
SOUVENIR DOLL
HAKAATA PORCELAIN BISQUE
DEPICTS A SWEET ANIME STYLE
GEISHA IN A PINK KIMONO DRESS
HER FINGER IS POINTED UPWARD TO THE SKY
REPAIR TO NECK.
OTHERWISE GOOD
MEASURES ABOUT 13" HIGH
POST WWII ECONOMIC STIMULUS
c. 1960




 

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FYI

 

Terms

Geisha, like all Japanese nouns, has no distinct singular or plural variants. The word consists of two kanji, (gei) meaning "art" and (sha) meaning "person" or "doer". The most literal translation of geisha into English would be "artist" or "performing artist". Another name for geisha used in Japan is geiko, which is usually used to refer to geisha from Western Japan, including Kyoto.

Apprentice geisha are called maiko, literally "dance child") or hangyoku, "half-jewel" (meaning that they are paid half the wage of a full geisha), or by the more generic term o-shaku, literally "one who pours (alcohol)". The white make-up and elaborate kimono and hair of a maiko is the popular image held of geisha. A woman entering the geisha community does not have to start out as a maiko, having the opportunity to begin her career as a full geisha. Either way, however, usually a year's training is involved before debuting either as a maiko or as a geisha. A woman above 21 is considered too old to be a maiko and becomes a full geisha upon her initiation into the geisha community. However, those who do go through the maiko stage can enjoy more prestige later in their professional lives.

The only modern hangyoku that can apprentice before the age of eighteen are in Kyoto. So on average, Tokyo hangyoku (who typically begin at 18) are slightly older than their Kyoto counterparts (who usually start at 15). Historically, geisha often began the earliest stages of their training at a very young age, sometimes as early as at 3 or 5 years. The early shikomi (servant) and minarai (watching apprentice) stages of geisha training lasted years, which is significantly longer than in contemporary times.

It is still said that geisha inhabit a separate reality which they call the karyukai or "the flower and willow world." Before they disappeared the courtesans were the colorful "flowers" and the geisha are the "willows" because of their subtlety, strength, and grace.

History

Origins

In the early stages of Japanese history there were female entertainers: saburuko (serving girls) were mostly wandering girls whose families were displaced from struggles in the late 600s. Some of these saburuko girls sold sexual services, while others with a better education made a living by entertaining at high-class social gatherings. After the imperial court moved the capital to Heian-kyo (Kyoto) in 794 the conditions that would form Japanese Geisha culture began to emerge, as it became the home of a beauty-obsessed elite. Skilled female performers, such as Shirabyoshi dancers, thrived.

Traditional Japan embraced sexual delights (it is not a Shinto taboo) and men were not constrained to be faithful to their wives. The ideal wife was a modest mother and manager of the home, by Confucian custom love had secondary importance. For sexual enjoyment and romantic attachment, men did not go to their wives, but to courtesans. Walled-in pleasure quarters were built in the 16th century, and in 1617 the shogunate designated "pleasure quarters", outside of which prostitution would be illegal, and within which "yujo" ("play women") would be classified and licensed. The highest yujo class was the Geisha's predecessor, called "Oiran", a combination of actress and prostitute, originally playing on stages set in the dry Kamo riverbed in Kyoto. They performed erotic dances and skits, and this new art was dubbed kabuku, meaning "to be wild and outrageous". The dances were called "kabuki," and this was the beginning of kabuki theater.

MisconceptionsThere are many misconceptions over what a geisha truly is because the tumultuous past of artisans, prostitutes, and pleasure quarters in Japan. “The world of the geisha, the "flower and willow" world, are very separate societies that are shrouded in mystery. The myths that have been created by outsiders about the environment and the lifestyle of the geisha world have, for the most part, been able to grow unchecked. And because it is a very private, elite world, most people would be uncomfortable speaking about it”.

Prostitution was legal in Japan until 1958, which is another reason that people may be misinformed about geishas not offering sex to customers. The two became especially confused after many of the professional prostitutes who catered to the occupying soldiers after World War II styled themselves as "geisha"; at a time when few true geisha were able to work, the counterfeit geisha usurped the meaning of the word in the eyes of many foreigners.

Modern geisha still live in traditional geisha houses called okiya in areas called hanamachi ("flower towns"), particularly during their apprenticeship. Many experienced geisha are successful enough to choose to live independently. The elegant, high-culture world that geisha are a part of is called karyukai ("the flower and willow world").

Before the twentieth century, geisha training began when a girl was around the age of four. Now, girls usually go to school until they are teenagers and then make the personal decision to train to become a geisha. Young women who wish to become geisha now most often begin their training after completing middle school, high school, or even college. Many women begin their careers in adulthood.

Geisha still study traditional instruments: the shamisen, shakuhachi, and drums, as well as learning games, traditional songs, calligraphy, Japanese traditional dances, tea ceremony, literature, and poetry. Women dancers drawing their art from buto (a classical Japanese dance) were trained by the Hanayagi school, whose top dancers performed internationally. Ichinohe Sachiko choreographed and performed traditional dances in Heian court costumes, characterized by the slow, formal, and elegant motions of this classical age of Japanese culture in which geisha are trained.

 

 

 

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