Kimono colorful, made uprising faces of white, light and mysterious steps: The image of the geisha He has been fascinated for centuries, but is often the victim of a colossal misunderstanding. In the’western imaginationthis elegant figure has long been confused with that of the elite prostitute. Still, nothing could be further away from reality.
The geisha do not sell the own bodybut offer something much rarer: art, beauty and knowledge. The term geisha means “person who practices the arts”: they are women dedicated to traditional arts of Japan such as dance, singing and tea ceremony, capable of entertaining their guests during dinners and parties.
Origins and profound meaning of the figure of the geisha
The geisha is one of the most refined incarnations of Japanese aesthetics. Its name derives from two ideograms that mean “Person of art “: still today, in fact, his role is that of Enter customers (often very wealthy) through music, dance, tea ceremonies, poetry and cultured conversations. They are therefore refined interlocutors, experts in oratory art.
The geishas are born in Edo period (1603-1868), in a Japan stable and culturally livelylike entertainment professionals. Their training takes place in structures called okiyawhere from young people have a long apprenticeship like maiko (Apprentices Geisha). Their days are marked by hours of study, practice and disciplinein which artistic techniques, coded behaviors and the use of traditional clothes such as Kimono are learned.
The Geisha body It has never been a commodity: it was instead expressive tool of an art that aims to balance and beauty. Their task was to entertain in selected and refined contexts, never sell sex.
Historical confusion: OIran, American soldiers and colonization of the imagination
The misunderstanding between Geisha and prostitute It comes from a historical and cultural error. During the Edo periodthe oiran They were the real high -ranking courtesanswhich also offered sexual services, but also caught and poured into the arts.
While the oiran disappeared with modernization, the geisha they continued to exist how cultural figures. However, the myth of the prostitute geisha strengthened after the war, when American occupation brought with him misery and disinformation: many women passed off as “geisha” to attract US soldierswithout really being it.
Hence the distorted figure of the Geisha Girlwidely widespread in the western imagination and then strengthened by films, novels and media. This produced one Exoticizing and sexualized narrative Which obscured the real identity of the geishas, flattening them on colonial stereotypes.
A rigorous formation and a life dedicated to art
Become geisha it is far from easy: it requires years of sacrifices, rigor and study.
Entry into one okiya takes place in very young ageand the training course is hard and selective. The maiko they learn to play it Shamisena dance according to traditional codesa move with eleganceto cure every detail of one’s appearance, of the combination of makeup.
The art of conversation It is essential: geishas must know how to entertain with intelligence and gracein a context that has nothing to do with eroticism or sexual seduction. During training, sentimental relationships are discouraged and personal life is subject to work. Some geishas, in the past, had a damn (a patron that financed them), but it was a private agreement, not of prostitution. Their figure was publicly associated with decoration, to culture and discretionE: values that continue to define them even today.
The geishas today: cultural resistance and evolving identity
Today the geishas are fewbut still activeespecially a Kyoto, Kanazawa and Tokyo. Their neighborhoods, called Hanamachiresist as places where yes He handed down a living memory, made of slow gestures, precise rites and ancient knowledge.
The Modern Geisha participate in Cultural events, public shows and private receptionscontinuing to exercise their job with the same rigor of the past. Some have become the spokesman for their art through interviews, publications and documentaries, in an attempt to dismantle the sexualized myth and bring back to the center of the truth: the geisha is an artist, not a courtesan.
