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20 retro photographs of Japanese geisha believing they know a woman's true destiny
20 retro photographs of Japanese geisha believing they know a woman's true destiny

Video: 20 retro photographs of Japanese geisha believing they know a woman's true destiny

Video: 20 retro photographs of Japanese geisha believing they know a woman's true destiny
Video: My Daughter Opens a Starbucks For 24 Hours *bad idea* - YouTube 2024, May
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Young geisha in class. (1950s.)
Young geisha in class. (1950s.)

She adorns teahouses with her beauty, and conversations with her wit. She does not always accept gifts and never takes part in meals. With it, you can relax and feel like in paradise, but exactly as long as the incense stick is smoked - a unit for measuring the geisha's working time. In our roundup of 20 vintage photographs of geisha in various situations.

The first geisha were men

Hocken
Hocken

Men were the first to enter this field. Every evening in the luscious quarters of Japanese cities, they entertained guests with songs, entertaining conversations and massive games. These men were called hoken (jester) or geisha (artisan). But one evening a woman appeared instead of a man, and it became obvious that this role was assigned to her. She not only entertained, she was an actress, a person of art - a geisha.

A good education is the path to professional success

A young geisha tidies herself up
A young geisha tidies herself up

The girls in the geisha school did not make any sense to study mediocre or poorly. Girls came there to become perfection, to learn to inspire with the lightness of their rhyme, the gracefulness of their dance and the gracefulness of their ikebana.

Chatting geisha in the yard
Chatting geisha in the yard

Geisha spent 12 hours a day at lessons, and they had only one day off every two weeks. The training lasted at least 5 years. In ancient times, girls could enter the geisha school from the age of 10, today - from 16. The course includes playing the Japanese lute, traditional dance, ikebana, poetry, calligraphy, painting, traditional types of singing. At the same time, a geisha should attend classes throughout her professional career.

Geisha and a philosophical attitude to life

Geisha with an umbrella
Geisha with an umbrella

The art of geisha is largely aimed at ensuring that she herself is constantly in balance, showing a philosophical attitude and resilience to adversity. There is a known case when a woman present in a tea room, unnoticed by others, trying to annoy a geisha, put a burning cigarette on her hand.

Geisha entertain guests
Geisha entertain guests

But the geisha did not scandalize, show pain and spoil the mood of the guests with her behavior. Later, the injured geisha Mineko herself wrote: “It was like a test of the spirit. I decided that if I think the ash is hot, it will be hot. If I think that nothing happened, then it means that nothing happened."

Tokyo geisha. 1915 year
Tokyo geisha. 1915 year

Age is a geisha's biggest secret

The geisha feeds the visitor with traditional sticks
The geisha feeds the visitor with traditional sticks

Geisha have a professional motto: "Every day you decide how old you are!" The true age of geisha is hidden by traditional make-up - a whitewashed neck and face with black eyebrows and eyes and bright red lips painted on, as on a white canvas.

Morning toilet
Morning toilet
Geisha in the bath. Around 1880
Geisha in the bath. Around 1880

But the main thing is not the appearance of the geisha, but her inexhaustible inner beauty, timeless. No matter how many years a geisha has lived in the world, she is always beautiful. According to legend, old geisha do not die: they disappear to reappear.

How much does a geisha service cost

In the bath
In the bath

People come to geisha for strength, inspiration, calmness and pacification. And they are ready to pay a lot of money for this. Today in Kyoto, a light dinner in the company of a maiko (a geisha student) costs from $ 600 per person, a two-hour dinner with a maiko with traditional dances and songs will cost from $ 1,500 per person, and the opportunity to dine with an experienced geisha costs from $ 2,500 per hour. Giving money openly is bad manners. Today managers tell visitors how to do it correctly and even give out a special envelope.

The main thing is to please the client
The main thing is to please the client

The geisha's fee is called "flower money", because it always depended on how many incense sticks decay, that is. how long the customer will stay in the tea house. And it depends on herself.

Geisha hairstyle and clothing

Geisha in traditional kimono
Geisha in traditional kimono

A geisha spends at least 2 hours to tidy himself up before going out to the visitors. A geisha's hairstyle is done once every 2 weeks.

Geisha are getting ready for the evening. While they are without wigs
Geisha are getting ready for the evening. While they are without wigs

Due to the nature of the hairstyle, geisha often lose their hair and form bald spots, so they have to wear wigs. Geisha always dresses only in handmade kimono.

Geisha with an umbrella
Geisha with an umbrella

Geisha and prostitution

Dances with geisha
Dances with geisha

Many Europeans and Americans believe that geisha are Japanese prostitutes. But in fact, any physical contact of a geisha with visitors is prohibited. For carnal pleasures, the Japanese turned to Orian women, but today they are unlikely to be found in Japan.

Before leaving
Before leaving
Acquaintance with visitors
Acquaintance with visitors

Geisha and family

Geisha in Kyoto
Geisha in Kyoto

Geisha is not a sentence. If she wishes, she can get married and have children, but in this case, the professional career of a geisha for a woman ends.

The geisha covers his ears so as not to listen to an obscene anecdote
The geisha covers his ears so as not to listen to an obscene anecdote

Geisha today

Modern geisha. 2006 year
Modern geisha. 2006 year

There are less than 1000 real geishas left in Japan today. But pseudo geisha is more than enough. They whitewash their faces, dress in kimonos, sing and dance to the old rhythms, but every evening after their mission is completed, they change into European clothes and turn into simple housewives and students. Zealots of tradition are angry, because the chances of getting closer to the Japanese ideal of a true Woman remain less and less.

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