ANOTHER QUIZ

Who she is?

1- MAIKO

2- GEIKO

3- Her ERIKAE

4- NONE of the ABOVE

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The woman in the photographs above is a TAYUU or DAYU. (The word TAYUU means performer.)

TAYUU, unlike GEIKO, also offered conservative intimacies. They worked in the pleasure districts and were courtesans but not prostitutes. TAYUU provided traditional entertainment as dance, music, conversation, etc, much as the GEIKO did.

TAYUU supposed to sale the illusion of the ideal wife for the customers, even for one night. Like EDO's married women would have, black teeth, and tied their OBI in front, (for easy removal), although it was taboo for TAYUU to remove their kimono during intimacy.

TAYUU only entertained the samurai and ruling lords and often visit Kyoto's Palaces . Unlike prostitutes of the day, they were able to select their customers and intimate relationship happened as a result of a long relation with their customers.

Today, there are TAYUU that entertain as GEISHA do, no longer providing sex.

OIRAN were courtesans in Japan. The OIRAN were considered a type of "woman of pleasure" or prostitute. However, they are distinguished from the prostitutes in that they were entertainers, and many became celebrities of their times outside the pleasure districts. Their art and fashions often set trends among the wealthy and, because of this, cultural aspects of OIRAN traditions continue to be preserved to this day.

All this custom grew up as a result of the birth of KABUKI movement (classical Japanese dance-drama in EDO period. ).
The word KABUKI means "to be out of the ordinary" and can be interpreted as "avant-garde" or "bizarre theatre".

Female-performers played both men and women playlets about ordinary life, under the famous (Kamo-river) SHIJO-BRIDGE.
After being asked to perform before the Imperial Court, KABUKI become recognised as a form of perform-arts.
Much of its appeal in this era was due to the ribald, suggestive themes featured by many troupes; this appeal was further augmented by the fact that the performers were often also available for prostitution. That's the reason why during EDO period KABUKI was called "prostitute-singing and dancing performance".

GEISHA & GEIKO The teenagers ODORIKO "dancing girls" were the predecessor of the GEIKO, highly trained expensive dancers-for-hire.
They were popular paid entertainers in the private homes of upper-class samurai.
Unfortunately those who were no longer teenagers, could no longer be ODORIKO, therefore many had turned to prostitution by the end of their teens.

The first GEISHA or GEIKO were men, that entertain OIRAN's customers in rooms were wealthy customers will wait their turn with the OIRAN.

Records shows that the the first woman known to call herself GEISHA was a Fukagawa prostitute, in about 1750. Apparently she was an excellent singer and shamisen-player, who was an immediate success, making female GEISHA extremely popular in 1750s Fukagawa. As they became more popular than the male GEISHA, many began working only as entertainers (rather than prostitutes).
In order to protect the OIRAN business GEISHA working within the pleasure quarters were essentially imprisoned and strictly forbidden to sell sex. In essence GEISHA carved out a separate niche as artists and erudite female companions.
By 1800, being a GEISHA was considered a female occupation. The end of the century sees the raise of the chic and modern GEISHA, (becoming more popular than the gaudy OIRAN), and GEISHA style was emulated by fashionable women throughout society.