Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
A maiko (舞妓, IPA: / ˈ m aɪ k oʊ / MY-koh, Japanese:) is an apprentice geisha in Kyoto. [1] Their jobs consist of performing songs, dances, and playing the shamisen or other traditional Japanese instruments for visitors during banquets and parties, known as ozashiki .
In modern Japan, geisha and their apprentices are a rarer sight outside of the hanamachi or chayagai (茶屋街, "tea house district", often referred to as "entertainment district"); most sightings of geisha and maiko in and around cities such as Kyoto are actually tourists who pay a fee to be dressed up as either a maiko or geisha for the day ...
The dances, songs, and theater productions presented in the framework of the Miyako Odori are performed by the maiko (apprentice geisha) and geisha of the Gion quarter. The motifs draw from classical Japanese culture and incorporate everyday life as well as folkloristic elements, for example from the Tale of Genji. [1]
Maiko are usually 17 or 18 when this ceremony takes place as post-WWII labor laws prevent maiko from beginning their employment as apprentices at an earlier age as in pre-WWII eras. Some apprentices, however, skip the maiko stage, being too old to debut as a young apprentice, and instead begin their apprenticeship appearing as a geisha.
All modern maiko and geisha have full control over their personal choices regarding sex, and most maiko begin training, attending banquets, and interacting with customers aged 18 – though they may start living at the okiya as a shikomi (maids) for a few years before graduation to minarai (lit. ' learning by observation ') and then maiko status.
Members of the Imperial family on formal occasions, geisha, maiko, and sumo wrestlers wear variations on common traditional accessories that are not found in everyday dress, such as certain types of kimono. As an extension of this, many practitioners of Japanese traditional dance wear similar kimono and accessories to geisha and maiko.
Iwasaki became a maiko (apprentice geisha) at the age of 15, and was chosen as the house's atotori, or heir. Iwasaki also received the name "Mineko", as prescribed by a Japanese fortune-teller. By age 16, she had earned a reputation as Japan's most popular maiko and graduated to geisha status on her 21st birthday.
The geisha and maiko of Gion both perform annual public dances, as do all five geisha districts in Kyoto. The oldest of these date to the Kyoto exhibition of 1872. The more popular of these is the Miyako Odori , literally "Dances of the Old Capital" (sometimes instead referred to as the "Cherry Blossom Dances"), staged by the geisha of Gion ...