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An okiya (置屋) is the lodging house/drinking establishment to which a maiko or geisha is affiliated with during her career as a geisha. The okiya is typically run by the "mother" (okā-san) of the house, who handles a geisha's engagements, the development of her skills, and funds her training through a particular teahouse.
A geisha lodging house. All geisha must be registered to an okiya, though not all geisha live in their okiya day-to-day. Okiya are usually run by women, many of whom are ex-geisha themselves. [9] Geisha may entertain guests within their okiya. Ozashiki (お座敷) A term for a geisha's engagements, which may take part or the whole of an evening.
A summer tradition around the time of the Gion Festival among the hanamachi of Kyoto is to distribute personalized uchiwa (団扇, flat fans) to favored patrons and stores that both maiko and geisha frequent. These feature a crest of the geisha house on the front, and the geisha's name on the back (house name, then personal name).
Gion houses two hanamachi, or geisha districts: Gion Kobu (祇園甲部) and Gion Higashi (祇園東).The two were originally the same district, but split many years ago. Gion Kobu is larger, occupying most of the district including the famous street Hanamikoji, while Gion Higashi is smaller and occupies the northeast corner, centered on its rehearsal h
Map of Yoshiwara from 1846 Map of Yoshiwara as of 1905 Cherry trees along Gokacho in New Yoshiwara, 1835 Yoshiwara during the Taisho era in the 1920s. The licensed district of Yoshiwara was created in the city of Edo, near to the area today known as Nihonbashi, itself close to the beginning of the Tōkaidō road, the primary route to western Kyoto during the Edo period.
Mineko Iwasaki, former high-ranking Gion geisha, detailed her experience of mizuage in her autobiography, Geisha, a Life.Describing her experience of graduation to geishahood with the term mizuage, Iwasaki described her experience as a round of formal visits to announce her graduation, including the presentation of gifts to related geisha houses and important patrons, and a cycle through five ...
Geiko and maiko have existed in Ponto-chō since at least the 16th century, as have prostitution and other forms of entertainment. Today, the area, lit by traditional lanterns at night, contains a mix of exclusive restaurants — often featuring outdoor riverside dining on wooden patios — geisha houses and tea houses, brothels, bars, and cheap eateries.
Geisha are not affiliated with a particular teahouse, but are instead hired from the geisha house they are affiliated with by the proprietress of the ochaya to provide entertainment, consisting of conversation, flirtation, pouring drinks, traditional games, singing, musical instruments, and dancing. [3]