Japanese Geisha Essay
When you ask people about their image of Japan, they will probably associate this country with such figures as samurais and geishas. The spirit of Japan’s geisha enchants people all over the world. Even though these women are called “prostitutes” or “courtesans”, they radiate some undeniable sophistication and feminity.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary provides the definition of geisha as a Japanese girl or woman who is trained to provide entertaining and lighthearted company especially for a man or a group of men. If you take word-for-word translation, you will see that the Japanese word “geisha” in English means “art person”. Therefore Japan’s geishas were great performers of various Japanese arts, for instance, classical music, dance, games and conversation. Besides such entertaining tasks, sometimes geishas were engage in sexual relations with their customers. There were special auctions, where geisha’s virginity was offered for sale.
The profession of geisha emerged in the 17th century and its representatives began to train at young age. Some of these girls were sold by their own parents to special geisha houses, some of them were daughters of geishas and some of these young girls volunteered.
The ordinary day of geisha began with different dance, music and other art classes and ended with putting on their makeup and going for banquets. Geisha was not allowed to eat at the parties. These women received earnings per hour and made quite wealthy class of population in Japan.
Geishas were noticeable for their beauty and appearance. The traditional geisha’s makeup includes a thick white base on her face and red lips. Geisha wears only kimono and her hair is decorated with hairpins and other hair decorations.
The number of geishas has decreased in 20th century. Due to consequences of World War II the majority of women in Japan had to go to work for the good of their country.
