9 misconceptions about geisha everyone believes in movies
A Life / / January 06, 2021
1. Geisha were prostitutes
Contrary to popular belief, geisha were not prostitutes or courtesans. The very word geishaGeisha, Osaka Prints: Glossary literally means "man of art." These women were engaged in entertaining guests at o-dzashiki banquets with noble gentlemen, where they served as musicians, dancers and comedians, poured drinks and made small talk.
In addition, geisha helped arrange various parlor games such as tosenkyo (throwing a fan at a target) or the Japanese counterparts "rock, scissors, paper" and gave sake to the losers. They provided musical accompaniment to the banquet, playing the shamisen (a kind of Japanese balalaika), ko-tsuzumi (a Japanese drum held on the shoulder) and fue (flute). And if the guests wanted to compete in the addition of haiku, drawing or dancing, geisha also participated in it.
It is more correct to compare a geisha with a presenter, singer, dancer, animator and hostess (and all this in one bottle) than with a prostitute.
If a geisha wanted to provide sexual services, she would put herself at risk, since she was prohibited by lawGeisha to engage in prostitution and even show up next to yujo - this is how real moths were called in Japan. Of course, it is unlikely that this prohibition has never been violated, but still it took place.
Perhaps the myth that yujo and geisha are one and the same appearedThe Asian Mystique: Dragon Ladies, Geisha Girls, and Our Fantasies of the Exotic Orient, Looking for the lost: journeys through a vanishing Japan thanks to the American military after Second World War. Many prostitutes then pretended to be geisha in order to earn more money, although they did not have the right to do so. The Americans did not really understand who is who, and therefore they began to confuse these concepts.
2. Geisha is an exclusively female profession
When we say "geisha", we necessarily mean a Japanese woman with a strange hairstyle and a face covered with white powder. The thing is, it doesn't have to be a woman.
The first geisha were menGeisha, Taikomochi or Houkan, the Male Counterpart to the Geisha - they were called taikomochi, which translates from Japanese as "drum bearer", or hokan - "jester". They were comedians musicians, actors and connoisseurs of the tea ceremony. They told jokes and entertained guests in noble houses. Or they invited visitors to pubs and brothels with obscene anecdotes.
And no, male "geisha" should not be called "gay": they are completely different words. "Geisha" comes from the Japanese geisha, "man of art", "gay" - from the English gay, "merry fellow", "mischievous".
This profession arose already in the XII century, and then the khokans were called dobosu - "comrade", since they not only entertained the owners, but also were their advisers, interlocutors and companions, with whom it was not boring to spend time. Later, with the end of the Sengoku period in the early 17th century, female jesters began to appear. The first of them was calledGeisha Kasen - she was a prostitute, but was able to pay off the debt under the contract and, having gained freedom, became the first geisha.
Now there are about five taikomochi left in the world. They organize the holidaysTaikomochi or Houkan, the Male Counterpart to the Geisha, contests and work as presenters. You can even look to their YouTube performances. Maybe it will cheer up those who know Japanese.
In addition, male geisha can be called husuto - these are Japanese boys who, for a fee, can take you out on a date, say compliments and have a drink with you.
3. Geisha always wear makeup
Geisha are always portrayed as wearing the traditional o-sira makeup (which means "white" in Japanese), which is based on wax. The lips were stained with red safflower lipstick - beni.
However, contrary to belief, geisha wore makeup.Geisha not always. Mostly the face was whitewashed by maiko, geisha students, and novice geisha, and experienced ladies made up only for especially important ceremonies. From a certain age, makeup was not worn at all, since it was believed that the beauty of an adult woman did not need to emphasize it. cosmetics.
The situation was the same with the hair: inexperienced maikos made complex hairstyles with an abundance of jewelry. And adult women, trained, wore a simpler hairstyle, shimada. Age geisha generally simply gathered their hair into a "shell".
4. All the geisha were handsome and young
From the point of view of the Japanese in ancient times, geisha really were the decoration of any holiday. But their ideas about beauty were somewhat different from ours.
In ancient times, geisha, due to the costs of their profession, suffered from skin problems. Due to the fact that their makeup containedGeisha white lead, until the 20th century, women often earned lead poisoning. The makeup they used was also very specific: for example, uguisu-no-fun, a cosmetic productGeisha facials, was made from the excrement of the warbler (this is such a bird).
The word "uguisu-no-fun" is translated as "nightingale droppings." And in Japan it was considered prestigious and fashionable to smear the face with such a thing, supposedly giving skin smoothness and whiteness. True, modern researchers doubtThe nightingale facial, Geisha facials, Does the bird poop facial really work?that the urea and guanine contained in bird excrement are good for the skin, but due to the high pH, uguisu-no-fun was also used for bleaching sheets.
Due to the strong tension in the hairGeisha Geisha hair began to fall out over time, but they even managed to be proud of their receding hairline.
They were considered a sign that a geisha had been sufficiently trained as a student, and therefore, impeccably trained. Hair loss was covered with wigs.
With age, geisha often refusedGeisha from such bullying themselves and began to adhere to a more natural appearance. Many of them continued to work until old age. Moreover, the Japanese appreciated mature ladies in the role of geisha more: it was believed that only with age, a woman's beauty is fully revealed.
The oldest known geisha, Yuko Asakusa, lived to be 96 years old. She was born in 1923 and startedYuko’s Dancing Soul practicing her profession from the age of 16, and she continued to do this until her death in 2019.
So, if you have invited a geisha, it is not a fact that you will be visited by a young beauty singing in a clear voice. Perhaps it will be an aged lady, masterly pouring tea and telling stories.
5. A geisha smile is enough to charm a man
Another moment that adds spice to the image of a geisha is her smile. However, she was not at all as captivating as we think.
Geisha followed the Japanese custom of vilification teeth - ohaguroHandbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. As a dye, juices of various herbs and fruits were used, as well as liquid from galls - parasitic formations on plant leaves caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi and arthropods. This is not a very pleasant procedure.
To prepare ohaguro, the dye was mixed in a special containerHandbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan with water and sake, and then placed there red-hot rusty iron rods. All this stuff was kept for a week and then poured into the mouth. Yes, the Japanese are weird.
You probably won't want to kiss a geisha because ohaguro teeth smell bad. Ohaguro was banned in 1870Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan all nobles, including members of the imperial family. Apparently, even the emperor is annoyed by the smell from the mouth.
But prostitutes-yujo rarely blackened their teeth. Therefore, ohaguro was associatedA Brief History Of The Smile with the decency of married women, whose color fastness on their teeth symbolized loyalty to their husband.
6. Geisha were dressed to smithereens
Usually in films, geisha are presented as ladies not only with unnatural makeup, but also extremely brightly and effectively dressed. But this is not at all the case. Yujo (prostitutes) and oiran (more expensive prostitutes) dressed colorfully.
Among geishas, brightly decorated kimonos were wornGeisha, UNDERSTANDING THE GEISHA OF JAPAN: MYTHS & FACTS only apprentices and novice geisha. The more experienced women dressed more simply and modestly. Compare, for example, the clothes and hairstyles of the geisha and the oiran in the image above: the first has a plain kimono and a simple hairstyleand the other has a colorful outfit and adorned hair.
In addition, oiran and yujo, for obvious reasons, tied the belts of their kimonos so that they could easily be untied. Geisha was dressed by a special cloakroom attendant, otokosi, and they could not remove the belt without help.
7. All geisha are Japanese
When Japan was an isolated and closed state, where there was no way for the gaijin, it was so. But since the 1970s, representatives of other countries have appeared among geisha. Naturally, they took on Japanese aliases.Geisha, as it should be in this profession.
Among the geisha were seenLiza Dalby, the blue-eyed geisha, The Apprentice: Memoirs of a Chinese geisha wannabe in Japan citizens of the USA, China, Romania, Ukraine, Peru and Australia. They were trained in special okiya houses, and therefore had every right to be called geisha.
8. Geisha were sold into slavery
Due to the film Memoirs of a Geisha, based on the novel of the same name, many believe that little girls were literally sold into slavery by their impoverished parents. But this is also not entirely true.
Many new girls went to the houses of geisha (the so-called okiya) quite voluntarily in order to earn extra money and get an education and profession. The other maiko students were the daughters of adult geisha, and they got their craftGeisha by inheritance. Although it often happened that geisha became poor girls who had no other way to pay off their debts (this is clearly better than being a yujo).
By the way, Mineko Iwasaki, who became the prototype of the heroine of "Memoirs of a Geisha," was outraged by the way the geisha were portrayed there. She sued the novel's author Arthur Golden and then wroteA Geisha, a Successful Novel and a Lawsuit his book "True Memoirs of a Geisha."
Now girls who have reached the age of 15 become geishas at will. And before that, they must definitely get a school certificate.
9. Geisha is gone
If you think that geisha have long since sunk into history, then you are greatly mistaken: they exist in Japan to this day! They host tea ceremonies and serve in traditional Japanese restaurants, as well as work as musicians, comedians and toastmasters.
True, real geisha are rare today, and their number is declining.Modern ‑ day geisha triumphs in closed, traditional world, World's oldest geisha looks to future to preserve past. So if you find yourself in Japan, then you most likely have to take a selfie with a painted animator girl who has no idea about ancient oriental art.
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