What is a geisha?

Geisha (also called geisha in Chinese) is a female worker engaged in performing arts in Japan. In addition to serving guests, a large part of the work is to entertain guests with dances, music, musical instruments and other performances at banquets. In Tokyo and other places, kanto region is called "geisha" and the trainee stage is called "half jade"; Known as "Yunzi" in Kansai areas such as Kyoto and Osaka, pronounced as "Geiko", it was called "Maiko" in the trainee stage. After Meiji period, the pronunciation of "Geigi" became more and more common and became the modern standard Japanese pronunciation.

Geisha in Japanese Ukiyo-e Painting In Japanese, the word "prostitute" retains the traditional usage in China, which can represent both female artists and female sex workers. The "prostitute" of geisha refers to the former, because geisha is an art performer in principle and does not engage in sex trade. However, in modern Chinese, the word "prostitute" is often intuitively associated with sex trade, which is also the reason why the modern Chinese translation of "geisha" is taboo. In Japanese, "geisha" refers to male performers (see kabuki), so some people claim that "geisha" is the correct Chinese translation to show the difference.

Japanese geisha culture began to develop outward from Kyoto, and the origin of Kyoto geisha can be traced back to Dongshan, where the Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto was located in about17th century. Yasaka Shrine is a very famous shrine among many shrines and temples in Kyoto, with a long history. It is said that there were many people attending the Yasaka Shrine at that time, and many shops gathered nearby, forming a business district. Among them, there are many shops called "Water Teahouses", which sell snacks such as tea and jiaozi, so that believers from all over Japan can have a temporary rest place. The waitresses who work in these stores are called "tea girls" or "tea girls". Some tea girls will sing and dance to attract guests, which is the so-called modern management mode. After a long time, this business method has been introduced and its quality has been improved. For example, the performance of Sanwei Line has also been added. Under this virtuous circle, the business of some water teahouses is getting better and better, the scale is also expanding, and the types of goods are also increasing, such as wine and high-class cuisine.

Because the performance of tea girls is an important commercial technology, some owners of water teahouses began to train their tea girls in a planned way, which is the embryonic form of geisha culture. From an ordinary teahouse to an advanced pavilion, under the consideration of cost, the division of labor is becoming more and more detailed. Instead of supporting the training of geisha in various stores, it is better to concentrate on training and invite performances when necessary to bring greater economic benefits into play. As a result, professional training centers and operators named "Home Purchase" came into being.

In traditional Japan, women who pour wine at banquets without artistic training are called "wives" and have low social status. Prostitutes are generally called "girls" and "prodigal girls", among which the highest status is called "Taifu" and "Huakui". "Taifu" or "Huakui" is not only young and beautiful, but also has good attainments in tea ceremony, chorus, dance and incense. The service target is limited to dignitaries, and dignitaries also treat each other with courtesy, so their social status is relatively high. However, no matter whether it is a "girl", "wandering girl", "teacher" or "based on flowers", geisha's true identity is an artist, and her main job is to entertain guests.

However, due to the prosperity of the geisha industry and the romantic environment, there are some mercenary operators, so there are also geisha who were born because of social weak factors such as needing money to support their families and orphans, and signed prostitution contracts, or were sold by traffickers. Perhaps in order to pay off debts and get redemption at an early date, or perhaps unable to resist the temptation of money, some geisha began to engage in sex trade. Although traditionally, this kind of self-indulgence will be punished, in fact, until after the Second World War, this kind of prostitute-style geisha was widespread all over Japan, and many unscrupulous businessmen monopolized this business in disguise. Nevertheless, a truly first-class geisha still "sells art but not himself". "Selling art and not selling yourself" does not mean that geisha have no love life. On the contrary, a first-class geisha, like ordinary women, may only have one lover, named Dana, or even commit herself to him. Dana will also provide substantial help such as money to take care of the life needs of geisha. After quitting her job as a geisha, she married her lover and had a large family.

In Japan, the conditions for being a geisha are very harsh, and the cost of studying art is also very high, which is beyond the affordability of ordinary families. Moreover, the process of learning art is very hard, and not all geisha can persist.

In ancient times, geisha generally began to learn art at the age of 10. Now, due to the restrictions of the Child Welfare Law and the Labor Standards Law, they cannot start studying art until they graduate from middle school (that is, around 65,438+04 years old and 65,438+05 years old), and the learning process is very difficult. Including culture, etiquette, language, decoration, poetry, harp, bowing, pouring wine and so on. And every move, word and deed has strict requirements, which embodies nobility and stability everywhere. For example, one of the contents of the training is that eating hot tofu can't make a sound, let alone touch lip gloss, which shows that the requirements are strict. You can officially be a geisha when you are 16 years old, and the whole performance course lasts for 5 years. The first geisha is called a maiko (or dancer), and then she can officially become a geisha. Geisha's career usually ends at the age of 30. If you continue to be a geisha after the age of 30, you will be demoted and become a foil for young and beautiful prostitutes. Among geisha, the elder geisha is called "ぉさん (elder sister)".

Geisha usually live in seclusion. Usually, people can only see geisha rushing from their residence to the teahouse or returning from the teahouse to their residence in public places. They form a small circle, and it is difficult for ordinary people to spy on their lives, thus arousing people's curiosity and interest in their lives. Geisha has a high income and extraordinary temperament, but her ability to take care of herself in daily life is poor. In view of this, geisha's employers will provide personal nannies for geisha to take care of their daily life and diet.

Excellent geisha often become the target pursued by dignitaries, including two of many of its kind. In ancient Japan, married women had to give up their jobs as geisha, and it was not until modern times that this rule was gradually abolished, so that geisha could lead a normal life. However, most women still follow the tradition and leave the geisha ranks after marriage, but there are also a few people who return to the geisha industry after divorce, among which Nakamura Kiharu is the most famous in contemporary times.

Kyoto maiko's "だらりのほ" hairstyle is the most common one, called "Teru Shimada". There are three theories about the origin of Teru Shimada Biography:

During the Edo period, it was popular among "wandering girls" who stayed in Teru Shimada, Tokaido ("stay" means post office).

During the reign of Yan Yong, kabuki actor Teru Shimada Wanji began to get married.

The pronunciation of Japanese "Di めた" has changed.

Geisha's clothing is very gorgeous kimono, with excellent workmanship, texture and decoration, so it is also extremely expensive, generally above 500,000 yen, and some even reach 6.5438+00,000 yen. Kyoto maiko's costume is even more famous, which is characterized by a gorgeous belt called "だらりのほ". This belt can even be as long as 5 meters, and it is quite heavy, so it takes a lot of effort to tie it up, so it is often necessary to ask a "man" servant for help.

The special dress of maiko and the kimono worn by maiko and young geisha are called "Yin Yin", and the part from the belt to the skirt is called "Yin Yin". When walking outside, maiko and young geisha will definitely put their left hands on this paragraph, which means "busking without selling themselves".

Although the costumes of geisha are classified as kimonos, they are actually different from traditional kimonos. Traditional kimono has a high back collar, which usually tightly wraps around a woman's neck. However, the kimono collar worn by geisha is open and deliberately leans backwards, so that the geisha's neck is completely exposed.

Geisha is also very particular about makeup. There are special procedures for applying heavy makeup, and the materials used are mainly traditional raw materials. The most striking thing is that a geisha will evenly coat her face and neck with a liquid white pigment, so she looks like a gorgeous doll.

When a geisha attends a banquet, a man will accompany him with a box of shamisen. In addition to doing chores for geisha who are inconvenient to move because of dressing up, they are also responsible for protecting geisha from drunkards and disciples.

In a narrow sense, the props used by geisha in performances refer to hand-held performance tools, including various musical instruments and ornaments; Broadly speaking, it should include all the knowledge learned by prostitutes, song and dance accompanists and even geisha. Because geisha's reception of guests is not limited to song and dance performances, they provide many activities that can add fun to guests' banquets.

At first, geisha only performed in art galleries. Later, geisha began to haunt teahouses, restaurants and kiosks because they had to attend banquets of dignitaries. With the changes of the times and the impact of modern western culture, the pressure of geisha's decline is increasing, forcing geisha art to change its tradition, and geisha practitioners are also allowed to entertain guests in the special bar of the teahouse.

Geisha performances can be roughly divided into "cubes" and "places". "Cube" refers to dancers, and "place" refers to performers who sing songs such as "Longbai" and "Love" and play Taigu and Sanwei Line. Because "local" performances are difficult and require long-term training to be competent, they are mostly performed by senior geisha. "Cubic" performance is relatively easy, so it is generally performed by junior geisha and maiko. In addition to the above two performances, geisha also has traditional Japanese art performances such as tea ceremony and incense road. Besides, geisha are trained to speak, so there are many talkative people. After the performance, they will accompany the guests to chat with each other to increase the atmosphere. The performance fee paid by customers to geisha is called "line fragrance generation" or "jade generation", and Kyoto is specifically called "flower generation".

social status

In the Japanese mind, geisha is a respectable profession, and it is remarkable that a girl can become a qualified geisha. It is an honor to have a geisha in a family.

Decline and Cultural Value

After World War II, there are still many flower streets in Japan, which are the main places of entertainment, and many geisha and geisha sell themselves in disguise. However, since 1947, Japan has implemented the Child Welfare Law and the Labor Standards Law, prohibiting children from dropping out of school and taking part in work before reaching the legal age. For geisha, a profession that needs to be cultivated from an early age and master love emotions, the source of talents has been directly and greatly impacted. Coupled with the rapid changes in society since the industrial revolution, various new entertainment activities have sprung up, and the flower street and geisha have gradually declined.

Japan has regarded geisha as a cultural property and is actively protecting it. In characteristic cities with geisha culture, such as Kyoto, there is also a so-called "dead prostitute/maiko" business service, which allows female tourists to dress up as geisha or maiko and experience the beauty of geisha culture for themselves.

In addition, due to the convenient transportation, modern geisha will also be invited to perform in distant places, which will also help to expand geisha culture and increase the understanding of geisha culture around the world. But like many traditional arts in the world, the biggest pressure is that there is no successor.

Although geisha art, like many traditional cultures in the world, has to face the fate of decline, geisha will still exist as an artistic symbol of Kyoto for a long time to come and be regarded as a rare cultural treasure by Japan. Geisha, in Japanese, "art" refers to art or performance, and "geisha" refers to people. Geisha is a professional dancer who entertains guests through various performing arts. Geisha are not ordinary dancers or prostitutes. People think that women who performed dances for samurai in the 1 1 century were the predecessors of geisha. Geisha should be trained in a series of traditional skills: traditional Japanese songs and dances, instrumental performances (the most basic one is a three-stringed instrument called Sanwei Line), flower arrangement, kimono wearing, tea ceremony, calligraphy, conversation, toast etiquette and so on. Geisha are very talented Japanese women. They are very persistent and have received a lot of training. Even after becoming geisha, they continue to take many courses to improve their skills. Nowadays, many geisha learn English conversation to serve English-speaking guests. They also learn computer operation. Nowadays, the scope of geisha's work has gradually expanded to other industries, such as modeling and international tourism.

Famous geisha

Nakamura Kiharu (19 13-2003) published his autobiography Memoirs of a Geisha in Tokyo in 1983. 1985 There was another book, Mourning for Japan. Nakamura Kiharu has published 10 works.