Kyoto has many of the few geisha in Japan, and the training process is long. Six months without family contact, a test of skills, then five years apprenticeship as a maiko before becoming geisha, or geiko. Geisha today, or most of them, do not function as high class escorts, as media in the West portrays them. Instead, the perform highly classified dances, songs, and costume for high paying guests at parties. As the BBC documentary features one geisha mother describing it, “It is like having a live flower as your company. ”
These maiko were enjoying a stroll in the good weather in the tourist area of Arashiyama near the bamboo forest.
Pretty ^^ Though these girls are tourists who are dressed as maiko ^^ They’re not real maiko, they went to a studio and paid to be dressed up as them, it’s a popular tourist activity around Kyoto, and although the studios can do a very good job, by law they have to get a few things wrong. ^^ And also, No geisha or maiko is an escort. There is a type of person who works at resorts who dresses as a Geisha and knows maybe one or two dances who also act as escorts, but they’re by no means Geisha, they’re not recognized as Geisha by the geisha community but they call themselves “Onsen Geisha” Geisha and Maiko also recite poetry that they’ve memorized, play an assortment of instruments, sing, and of course dance, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The Kyoto words that are associated with the culture is Geiko (Geisha) And Maiko (Apprentice Geiko) In Tokyo they are called Geisha and Hang’yoku (Apprentice Geisha)
Oh I’ve seen that documentary! Lovely indeed, I’ve developed a sort of obsession over geishas! They are so mysterious and unique…few people would dare nowadays to do what the adhere to (aka code of silence, not marry, dedicate oneself to innumerable training lessons et cetera).