“The biggest industry in Japan is not shipbuilding, producing cultured pearls, or manufacturing transistor radios or cameras. It is entertainment”.[36] The term geisha literally translates to mean “entertainer.” Around the world, the term geisha has many different connotations; some western countries think that geishas are high-class prostitutes or escorts. Even some Japanese citizens see geisha in that way because of the lower class geisha who do sell their bodies and work as prostitutes. The biggest misconception of geisha is that they have sex with their customers; the most exclusive modern geisha do not. Their sex and love lives are usually distinct from their professional life. A successful geisha can entrance her male customers with music, dance, and conversation. “Geisha are not submissive and subservient, but in fact they are some of the most financially and emotionally successful and strongest women in Japan, and traditionally have been so”.
There is currently no western equivalent for a geisha – they are truly the most impeccable form of Japanese art.
—Kenneth Champeon, The Floating World
Geisha learn the traditional skills of dance and instruments, and hold high social status. Geisha are single women, though they may have lovers or boyfriends whom they have personally picked, who support them financially.
[edit] Relationships with male guests
The appeal of a high-ranking geisha to her typical male guest has historically been very different from that of his wife. The ideal geisha showed her skill, while the ideal wife was modest. The ideal geisha seemed carefree, the ideal wife somber and responsible. Geisha do sometimes marry their clients but they must then retire; there can never be a married geisha.
Geisha may gracefully flirt with their (often infatuated) guests, but they will always remain in control of the hospitality. Over their years of apprenticeship they learn to adapt to different situations and personalities, mastering the art of the hostess.
[edit] Matriarchal society
Women in the geisha society are some of the most successful businesswomen in Japan. In the geisha society, women run everything. Without the impeccable business skills of the female teahouse owners, the world of geisha would cease to exist. The teahouse owners are entrepreneurs, whose service to the geisha is highly necessary for the society to run smoothly. Infrequently, men take contingent positions such as hair stylists,[38] dressers (dressing a maiko requires considerable strength) and accountants, but men have a limited role in geisha society.
The geisha system was founded, actually, to promote the independence and economic self-sufficiency of women. And that was its stated purpose, and it actually accomplished that quite admirably in Japanese society, where there were very few routes for women to achieve that sort of independence.
—Mineko Iwasaki (reportedly the most successful geisha of all time) in interview, Boston Phoenix
The majority of women were wives who didn’t work outside of their familial duties. Becoming a geisha was a way for women to support themselves without submitting to becoming a wife. The geisha women live in a strictly matriarchal society. Women dominate. Women run the geisha houses, they are teachers, they run the teahouses, they recruit aspiring geisha, and they keep track of geishas’ finances. The only major role men play in geisha society is that of guest, though women sometimes take that role as well.
Historically, Japanese feminists have seen geisha as exploited women but some modern geisha see themselves as liberated feminists.[40] “We find our own way, without doing family responsibilities. Isn’t that what feminists are?”.[17] These women leave their families at a young age to immerse themselves in their art. They believe that men can make a life for themselves, always being in control, so why can’t women? Also, they “have grown adept at using their silken charms to wind their men around their little fingers… [to] manipulate the dumb, unsuspecting male of the species… to make a man think that he is the one who has the brilliant ideas”.[41] Not all geisha identify themselves with feminism, and there is a concern that the geisha tradition holds back progress for Japanese women.[38]
[edit] Misconceptions
There 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.
