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- were much revered in the geisha arts and were partially derived from the No and Kabuki theatre of the day. Most geisha became highly competent musicians, singers and dancers and had a deep and far ranging knowledge of a number of styles of dance and music. However, it was rare to find a geisha who was equally proficient at song, dance and music.
Not only did the maiko have to spend hours perfecting the finer details of their artistic pursuits but they had to be trained in courtly mannerisms and social etiquette, and were required to learn an archaic geisha vocabulary. They had to know how to walk, sit and speak according to certain rules and regulations of the geisha world. They learned how to dress in layers of lavish silks in an elegant manner but with flair. The geisha�s suggestive movements became erotic and provided an illusion of romance. She had to know how to flatter, to flirt and to please men. She learned how to understand the male ego and how too exploit his moods and adapt to his behavior according to the personality of each customer. A maiko would accompany her �older sister�, an experienced geisha, on her appointed rounds to the teahouses and parties to become familiar with the routine and in the hope that she would gain recognition among the customers of the geisha section when she would become a full geisha. Her costume was more formal than that of a full geisha and she wore her hair and kimono in a different way. The maiko had to learn how to sleep on a lacquered wood pillow [takamakura], which was padded to rest her neck, so that her hairdo would not get mussed. When she became a geisha she would wear a wig and no longer have to sleep so uncomfortably.
Witty and clever conversation was the geisha�s prime asset and was more prized than beauty or at least this is what Japanese men claimed to appreciate the most in a geisha. Little has been written about their erotic or amorous skills, but no doubt they learned a great deal about sex from �pillow books� (makura-e), which were provided as part of their education. The erotic images in these woodblock print books, which were called shunga (spring pictures) or by their more refined name higa (secret pictures), were quite explicit and served as sex education manuals for women and men in old Japan.
The maiko or apprentice geisha was considered a stylized vision of an unblemished virgin youth. Her sexual initiation was part of becoming an adult or full geisha. Most maiko become sexually active between the ages of seventeen and nineteen. In the past, customers would pay large sums of money for the privilege of deflowering a maiko in a ceremony called mizu-age. After the maiko was deflowered, she would change the colour of the collar on her kimono from red to white signifying that she had given up her virginity.
Geisha, An Icon of Femininity
�A geisha contains her art within herselfand because her body has this art, her life is saved. That is the power of art - the salvation of one's soul�. Mayumi, a geisha - quote from Jodi Cobb, Geisha, The Life, The Voices, the Art, page 23.
With the perfect balance of beauty, knowledge of the arts and cultivated etiquette, the geisha became a �living work of art� and this was a source of pride for herself. She succeeded in turning herself into the image of the ideal woman of Japan and the embodiment of Japanese culture and refinement. She lived her lifestyle 24 hours a day.
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