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- Diva
Introduction
Ichimaru was one of the most famous geishas of 20th century Japan. Though her incredible talent, she successfully escaped the geisha world and became a major singing talent in Japan. After leaving the geishahood, she would continue to perform in full geisha regalia throughout her long and illustrious career, and in true geisha fashion would continue to purchase beautiful kimonos. This kimono exhibition is a tribute to her geisha style and taste through several decades.
Historical Situation During IchimanTs Early Life
Ichimaru was born in 1906 at the end of the Meiji period (1868-1912), an era when the emperor had been restored to power and Japan was undergoing a remarkable transformation from a feudal state to a modern industrial, military and political power. The Meiji government enthusiastically imitated Western ways in politics, the military, education, industiy, transportation, communications and architecture. Modernization had become synonymous with Westernization. Japan had also won two major wars with China in 1894-5 and Russia in 1904-5.
With the assimilation of so many Western ways, came a stern backlash from those loyal to traditional Japan, who allied together against the unquestioned acceptance of everything Western. These ardent nationalists denounced the ludicrous attempts to imitate the West, considering them to be insulting to the national character, and made sport of the indiscriminate haste to look and behave like a Westerner. The geisha were held up as the guardians of the old Japanese traditions.
During the Taisho period (1912-26), Japan�s great industrial development had produced a working class in big cities and education stimulated a wish among the people to participate in political affairs. There were great hopes for the future and for political democracy but with the worldwide economic depression of the 1930�s, it ended their dreams and saw a rise in militarism in Japan and an aggressive expansionist foreign policy.
With the economic disaster caused by the failure of the agricultural section in Japan in the 1920s and 30s, much of Japan�s rural population faced famine and massive unemployment. �Once again disparate families sold children into brothels. Home Ministry documents show that in six prefectures of northeastern Japan, 60,000 girls were sold into slavery in 1934 alone. Lucky ones were sold to geisha schools, but most went to brothels or became slaves of restaurant owners who forced them into prostitution. In Japan as a whole during the 1930s, 200,000 girls were being sold by their families each year.� -quote from Sterling Seagrave and Peggy Seagrave, The Yamato Dynasty: The Secret History of Japan's Imperial Family, New York, 1999, page 135.
This was the historical situation, which Ichimaru experienced in the first 40 years of
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