Geisha

In the early stages of Japanese history, saburuko (serving girls) were mostly wandering girls whose families had been displaced by war. Some of these saburuko girls offered sexual services for money while others with a better education made a living by entertaining at high-class social gatherings.

After the imperial court moved the capital to Heian-kyō (Kyoto) in 794, aspects of now-traditional Japanese art forms and aesthetic ideals began to develop, which would later contribute to the conditions under which the geisha profession emerged.[9] Skilled female performers, such as shirabyōshi dancers, thrived under the Imperial court, creating the traditions of female dance and performance that would later lead to both the development of geisha and kabuki actors.

During the Heian period, ideals surrounding relationships with women, sexual or otherwise, did not emphasise fidelity, with marriage within the Heian court considered a relatively casual arrangement. Men were not constrained to be faithful to their wives,[10] with the ideal wife instead being a modest mother who managed the affairs of the house, following Confucian customs wherein love had secondary importance to the other roles a wife fulfilled within the marriage. As such, courtesans – who provided not only sexual enjoyment, but also romantic attachment and artistic entertainment – were seen as both an outlet for men, and common companions. Though geisha would not develop until the 1800s, the use and status of courtesans as artistic and romantic entertainers was a tradition that geisha would later come to employ, with the development of courtesan artforms leading the way for geisha to later develop.

Walled-in pleasure quarters known as yūkaku (遊廓/遊郭) were built in the 16th century,[11] with the shogunate designating prostitution illegal to practice outside of these "pleasure quarters" in 1617.[12] Within the pleasure quarters, yūjo (遊女) (lit., "woman of pleasure") – a term used to refer to prostitutes as a whole – were classified and licensed, the upper echelons of which were referred to as "oiran", a category with its own internal ranks, the highest of which being the tayū.

Though the lower ranks of yūjo did not provide as much artistic entertainment than they did sexual, oiran, whilst still prostitutes, also included the traditional arts as a key aspect of their entertainment, their practice of which differed considerably from those of geisha. As oiran were considered to be low-ranking members of the nobility, the instruments they played and the songs they sung were often confined to those considered "respectable" enough for the upper classes. This typically meant that oiran sang long, traditional ballads ("nagauta" – lit., "long songs"), and played instruments such as the kokyū (a type of bowed shamisen) and the koto (a 13-stringed harp).

However, some yūjo also performed theatrical plays, dances and skits; one such person was Izumo no Okuni, whose theatrical performances on the dry riverbed of the Kamo River are considered to be the beginnings of kabuki theatre.[12]

Ukiyo-e scroll depicting a Gion geisha, 1800-1833

Ukiyo-e print by Yamaguchi Soken of a Kyoto geisha

Following their inception by the shogunate in the 17th century, the pleasure quarters quickly became popular entertainment centres that developed their own additional forms of entertainment outside of sex. The highly accomplished courtesans of these districts entertained their clients by dancing, singing, and playing music. Some were renowned poets and calligraphers as well; the development of the cultural arts of the pleasure quarters led to the rise in oiran being considered to be the celebrities of their day.

Around the turn of the 18th century, the first geisha performing for guests of the pleasure quarters in general appeared; these geisha, who were something of travelling entertainers going from party to party, were men, who would entertain the customers of courtesans through song and dance.[12] At the same time, the forerunners of female geisha, the teenage odoriko ("dancing girls"),[13] developed, trained and hired as chaste dancers-for-hire within these pleasure quarters.

In the 1680s, odoriko had become popular entertainers and were often paid to perform in the private homes of upper-class samurai;[14] by the early 18th century, many of these odoriko had also begun offering sexual services as well as chaste performances. Performers who were no longer teenagers (and could no longer style themselves odoriko[15]) adopted other titles in order to continue working – with one being "geisha", after the male entertainers of the time.

The first woman known to have called herself "geisha" was a Fukagawa prostitute, roughly around 1750,[16] who had become a skilled singer and shamisen player. The geisha, who took the name of Kikuya, became an immediate success, bringing greater popularity to the idea of female geisha.[17] As female geisha became greatly more widespread in the following two decades, many began to work as entertainers only, rather than offering sexual services as well; these performers often worked in the same establishments as male geisha.[18]

Tokyo geisha with shamisen, c. 1870s

By 1800, the profession of geisha was understood to be almost entirely female, and was established as a distinct role in its own right; however, geisha were, throughout various points within the Edo period, unable to work outside of the pleasure quarters, being affected by reforms aimed at either limiting or shutting down the pleasure quarters. These reforms were often inconsistent, and were repealed at various times.

Once established as an independent profession, a number of edicts were then introduced in order to protect the business of courtesans and separate the two professions. Geisha were firstly forbidden from selling sex, though many continued to do so; if a courtesan accused a geisha of stealing her customers and business of sex and entertainment, an official investigation was opened, with the potential for a geisha to lose her right to practice the profession. Geisha were also forbidden from wearing particularly flashy hairpins or kimono, both of which were hallmarks of higher-ranking courtesans, who were considered to be a part of the upper classes.[4]

Despite their official status as lower-class entertainers, geisha continued to grow in popularity. While courtesans existed to meet the needs of upper-class men (who could not respectably be seen to visit a lower-class prostitute) and prostitutes existed to meet the sexual needs of lower-class men, this left a gap of skilled and refined entertainers for the emerging merchant classes, who, though wealthy, were unable to access courtesans due to their social class. The status of courtesans as celebrities and arbiters of fashion had also waned considerably; the art forms they practiced had become stiffly-cherished relics of the upper classes, as had their manner of speech and their increasingly gaudy appearance. In contrast, machi geisha (lit., "town geisha") had begun to successfully establish themselves as worldly, cutting-edge entertainers, more artistically daring than their cloistered, indentured cousins, and able to come and go and dress as they pleased.

This popularity was then increased by the introduction of various laws intended to clamp down on and regulate the lower classes – in particular, the emerging merchant classes who had established themselves as the premiere patrons of geisha. Both had, over time, come to hold much of the purchasing power within Japan, with their status as lower class allowing them a degree of freedom in their tastes of dress and entertainment, in contrast to upper class families who had little choice but to appear in a manner deemed respectable to their status.

As the tastes of the merchant classes for kabuki and geisha became widely popular, laws introduced to effectively neuter the appearances and tastes of geisha and their customers were passed. This, however, had the adverse effect of leading to the rise in popularity of more refined and subversive aesthetical senses within those classes, further alienating courtesans and their patrons from popularity and contemporary taste; the introduction of laws on dress only furthered the popularity of geisha as refined and fashionable companions for men. As a result, over time, courtesans of both higher and lower ranks began to fall out of fashion, seen as gaudy and old-fashioned.

By the 1830s, geisha were considered to be the premiere fashion and style icons in Japanese society, and were emulated by women of the time.[19] Many fashion trends started by geisha soon became widely popular, with some continuing to this day; the wearing of haori by women, for example, was first started by geisha from the Tokyo hanamachi of Fukagawa in the early 1800s.

There were considered to be many classifications and ranks of geisha, though some were colloquial or closer to a tongue-in-cheek nicknames than an official ranking. Some geisha would sleep with their customers, whereas others would not, leading to distinctions such as 'kuruwa' geisha – a geisha who slept with customers as well as entertaining them through performing arts – 'yujō' ("prostitute") and 'jorō' ("whore") geisha, whose only entertainment for male customers was sex, and 'machi' geisha, who did not, officially and in reality, sleep with customers at all.[20]

By the end of the 19th century, courtesans no longer held the celebrity status they once did.[21] This trend would continue until the criminalisation of prostitution in Japan in 1956.

World War II brought lasting change to the geisha profession; before the war, geisha numbers, despite seeing competition from jokyū (café girls, the precursor to the bar hostess profession in Japan), had been as high as 80,000,[7]^:84[22] however, following the closure of all geisha districts in 1944, mostly all geisha had been conscripted into the war effort proper, with many finding work in factories or elsewhere through customers and patrons.

Though geisha returned to the karyūkai relatively quickly after the war, many had decided to stay on in their wartime jobs, considering it to be a more stable form of employment. Both during and after the war, the geisha name lost some status, as some prostitutes began referring to themselves as "geisha girls" to members of the American military occupying Japan.[4]

In 1945, the karyūkai saw restrictions on its practices lifted with teahouses, bars, and geisha houses (okiya) allowed to open again. Though many geisha did not return to the hanamachi after the war, it was evident that working as a geisha was still considered to be a lucrative and viable career, with numbers increasing quickly. The vast majority of geisha after the war were aged 20–24, as many retired in their mid-twenties after finding a patron – a trend carried over from the pre-war karyūkai:

'I showed the mother of the Yamabuki [okiya, in 1975] some statistics on the age distribution of the geisha population in the 1920s. She remarked on the big dip in figures when women reached the age of twenty-five. "In those days, when you found yourself a patron you could stop working. If you were lucky you would be set up in your own apartment and have a life of leisure, taking lessons when you wanted to for your own enjoyment ... I think it's pretty unusual nowadays for a geisha to stop working when she gets a patron."'[7]^:202–203

The status of geisha in Japanese society also changed drastically after the war. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, much discussion had taken place surrounding the status of geisha in a rapidly-Westernising Japanese society. Some geisha had begun to experiment with wearing Western clothing to engagements, learning Western-style dancing, and serving cocktails to customers instead of sake. The image of a "modern" pre-war geisha had been viewed by some as unprofessional and a betrayal of the profession's image, but as a necessary change and an obvious evolution by others. However, the incumbent pressures of the war rapidly turned the tide against Westernisation, leading to an effective abandonment of the "Western-style" geisha experiments.

After the war, geisha unanimously returned to wearing kimono and practicing the traditional arts, abandoning all experimental geisha styles. This, however, led to the final blow for the profession's reputation as fashionable in wider society; though the geisha did not experience the rapid decline and eventual death that courtesans had experienced in the previous century, they were instead rendered as "protectors of tradition" in favour of preserving the image geisha had cultivated over time.[4]

Nonetheless, in the decades after the war, the profession's practices still underwent some changes. Following the introduction of the Prostitution Prevention Law in 1956, geisha benefited from the official criminalisation of practices such as mizuage, a practice that had at times been undertaken coercively or through force by some maiko in mostly pre-war Japan. Despite this, the misconception of geisha being on some level prostitutes and of mizuage being a common practice continues, inaccurately, to this day.[23]

After Japan lost the war, geisha dispersed and the profession was in shambles. When they regrouped during the Occupation and began to flourish in the 1960s during Japan's postwar economic boom, the geisha world changed. In modern Japan, girls are not sold into indentured service. Nowadays, a geisha's sex life is her private affair.[24]

From the 1930s onwards, the rise of the jokyū bar hostess began to overshadow geisha as the premiere profession of entertainment at parties and outings for men.[7]^:84 In 1959, the Standard-Examiner reported the plight of geisha in an article written for the magazine Bungei Shunju by Japanese businessman Tsûsai Sugawara. Sugawara stated that girls now "prefer[red] to become dancers, models, and cabaret and bar hostesses rather than start [the] training in music and dancing at the age of seven or eight" necessary to become geisha at the time.[25]

Compulsory education laws passed in the 1960s effectively shortened the period of training for geisha apprentices, as girls could no longer be taken on at a young age to be trained throughout their teenage years. This led to a decline in women entering the profession, as most okiya required a recruit to be at least somewhat competent and trained in the arts she would later go on to use as a geisha;[26] by about 1975, okiya mothers in Kyoto began accepting both recruits from different areas of Japan in larger numbers, and recruits with little to no previous experience in the traditional arts. Before this point, the number of maiko in had dropped from 80 to just 30 between 1965–1975.[8]

By 1975, the average age of a geisha in the Ponto-chō district of Kyoto was roughly 39, with the vast majority being aged 35–49.[4] The population of geisha at this time was also surprisingly high, roughly equivalent to the numbers of young women within the profession; geisha no longer retired young when they found a patron, and were less likely than other women of the same age to have both children and an extended family to support them. In 1989, it was reported in the New York Times that there were an estimated 600-700 geisha left throughout the whole of Japan.[27]

Entrance to Ichiriki Ochaya, one of the most famous tea houses where geisha entertain in Gion Kobu

Modern geisha mostly still live in okiya they are affiliated with, particularly during their apprenticeship, and are legally required to be registered to one, though they may not live there everyday. Many experienced geisha are successful enough to choose to live independently, though living independently is more common in some geisha districts – such as those in Tokyo – than others.

Geisha are often hired to attend parties and gatherings, traditionally at tea houses or traditional Japanese restaurants (ryōtei).[28] The charge for a geisha's time, previously determined by the time it took to burn one incense stick (known as senkōdai (線香代) (lit., "incense stick fee") or gyokudai (玉代) (lit., "jewel fee")), was modernised during the 19th century to a flat fee charged per hour.[4] In Kyoto, the terms ohana (お花) and hanadai (花代) (both meaning "flower fees") are used instead as part of the Kyoto dialect. However, appointments and arrangements are still made by the mother of the house (the okasan) through the official registry office ("kenban" (検番)), which keeps a record of both the appointments taken by a geisha and her schedule.

In modern Japan, geisha and their apprentices are a rarer sight outside of the hanamachi or chayagai (茶屋街, literally "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, a practice known as "henshin".[29]

Over time the number of geisha has declined, despite the efforts of those within the profession. Factors include the nature of the economy, declining interest in the traditional arts, the exclusive and closed-off nature of the karyūkai, and the expense of being entertained by geisha.[30] The number of maiko and geisha in Kyoto fell from 76 and 548 in 1965 respectively to just 71 and 202 in 2006[8] as a result.

However, following the advent of wider accessibility to the internet from the mid-2000s onwards, a greater number of recruits have decided to join the profession with no existing ties to the karyūkai through watching online documentaries and reading websites set up by okiya to promote their business;[29] documentary pieces commonly inspire young women to join the profession, such as the geisha Satsuki, who later became the most popular geisha in Gion for a seven-year period:

[Geisha] Satsuki first took an interest in the kagai [lit., "five geisha districts" – name for geisha quarters in Kyoto] while a middle school student in Osaka, at around the age of 14, after seeing a documentary about a maiko's training. "I already had heard of maiko, but it was when I saw the documentary that I thought – I want to do that."[31]

In recent years, a growing number of geisha have complained to the authorities about being pursued and harassed by groups of tourists keen to take their photograph when out walking. As a result, tourists in Kyoto have been warned not to harass geisha on the streets, with local residents of the city and businesses in the areas surrounding the hanamachi of Kyoto launching patrols throughout Gion in order to prevent tourists from doing so.[32]

The six hanamachi in Tokyo are Asakusa (浅草), Akasaka (赤坂), Kagurazaka (神楽坂), Shimbashi (新橋), Mukōjima (向島), and Yoshichō (芳町).

Within the Tokyo prefecture but outside of the city's 23 wards,[33] the city of Hachiōji has its own geisha culture heritage.[34]

The hanamachi in Kyoto are known for their adherence to tradition and high prestige, with the image of a Kyoto maiko typifying that of geisha culture within wider Japanese and international society.

In Kyoto, the different hanamachi – known as the gokagai (lit., "five hanamachi") – are seen as unofficially ranked. Gion Kobu, Ponto-chō and Kamishichiken are seen as the most prestigious,[35] with Gion Kobu at the top; below these three are Gion Higashi and Miyagawa-chō.[36] The more prestigious hanamachi are frequented by powerful businessmen and politicians.[12]

In the 1970s, the geisha districts in Kyoto were known as the rōkkagai (lit., "six hanamachi"), as the district of Shimabara was still officially active as a geisha district, as well as hosting tayū reenactors; however, no geisha are active in Shimabara in the 21st century, despite modern tayū continuing to work there.[8]

Though regional hanamachi are typically not large enough to have a hierarchy, regional geisha districts are seen as having less prestige than those in Kyoto, viewed as being the pinnacle of tradition in the karyukai.

Geisha in onsen towns such as Atami may also be seen as less prestigious, as geisha working in these towns are typically hired to work in one hotel for travelling customers they are usually not familiar with before entertaining; nevertheless, all geisha, regardless of region or district, are trained in the traditional arts, making the distinction of prestige one of history and tradition.

A geisha entertaining a foreign male guest

Historically, geisha held an appeal for mainly male guests as a woman outside of the role of "wife". Wives were modest, responsible, and at times sombre, whereas geisha could be playful and carefree. Geisha would, on occasion, marry their clients, but marriage required retirement as a matter of fact.

Though relatively uncommon in previous decades, geisha parties are no longer understood to be affairs for male guests exclusively, with women commonly attending parties alongside other male guests. Though geisha will still gracefully flirt and entertain male guests, this is understood to be a part of a geisha's hostessing and entertainment skills, and is not taken as a serious sign of personal interest.

Despite long-held connotations between sex and geisha, a geisha's sex and love life is usually distinct from her professional life.

Geishas are not submissive and subservient, but in fact they are some of the most financially and emotionally successful and strongest women in Japan, and traditionally have been so.

— Mineko Iwasaki, Geisha, A Life[49]

Most geisha are single women, though they may have lovers or boyfriends over time, and are allowed to pursue these relationships outside of having a patron. In the present day, some geisha are married and continue to work in their capacity as geisha, despite it being uncommon; these geisha are likely to be based in regions outside of Kyoto, as its heavily traditionalist geisha districts would be unlikely to allow a married geisha to work.

Geisha have historically been conflated with prostitution and commonly confused with prostitutes, despite the profession being mostly forbidden from receiving payment for sex since its inception. Despite this, some geisha have historically engaged in prostitution, either through personal choice, or through coercion and at times force.

In 1872, shortly after the Meiji Restoration, the new government passed a law liberating "prostitutes (shōgi) and geisha (geigi)", ambiguously grouping both professions together.[51] The terms of the law caused controversy, due to the unclear differentiation between each profession, with some officials claiming that prostitutes and geisha worked different ends of the same profession, and that there would be little difference in calling all prostitutes "geisha". Nonetheless, the government maintained an official distinction between both professions, arguing that geisha should not be conflated with or confused for prostitutes.[52]

Though the law officially maintained a distance between geisha and prostitutes, some geisha still engaged in prostitution. Writing in 1956, former geisha Sayo Masuda wrote of her experiences in the onsen town of Suwa, Nagano Prefecture, where she was sold for her virginity a number of times by the mother of her okiya. Such practices could be common in less reputable geisha districts, with onsen towns in particular being known for their so-called "double registered" geisha (a term for an entertainer registered as both a geisha and a prostitute).[4] A geisha working to pay off her incumbent debts to the mother of the house often had little choice but to engage in prostitution, whether forced to by her occupational "mother", or coerced to do it in order to pay off her debts.[3]

In 1956, and following its implementation in 1958, the Prostitution Prevention Law (Baishun-bōshi-hō) criminalised the vast majority of prostitution, essentially leading to the outlawing of practices such as mizuage for geisha. In the present day, mizuage does not exist, and apprentices mark their graduation to geisha status with a series of ceremonies and events.

Despite this, the modern conflation between geisha and prostitutes continues as a pervasive idea, particularly in Western culture. Sheridan Prasso wrote that Americans had "an incorrect impression of the real geisha world ... geisha means 'arts person' trained in music and dance, not in the art of sexual pleasure".[53] Similarly, K.G. Henshall stated that the job of a geisha included "[entertaining] their customer, be it by dancing, reciting verse, playing musical instruments, or engaging in light conversation. Geisha engagements may include flirting with men and playful innuendos; however, clients know that nothing more can be expected. In a social style that is common in Japan, men are amused by the illusion of that which is never to be."[54]

In the past, it had been unspoken tradition for an established geisha to take a danna, or patron, who would pay for her expenses, buy her gifts, and engage her on a more personal level – at times involving sex – than a banquet or party would allow. This would be seen as a sign of the man's generosity, wealth and status, as the expenses associated with being a geisha were relatively high; as such, a danna was typically a wealthy man, sometimes married, who may have been financially supporting the geisha in question through company expenses.[4]

In the present day, it is less common for a geisha to take a danna, purely due to the expenses involved and the unlikelihood that a modern man could support both his household and the cost of a geisha's living. Nonetheless, it was still common for geisha to retire from the profession in their mid-twenties to live off the support of their patron following the Second World War.[4] The practice continues today, though geisha do not take danna anywhere as commonly, and though intimacy in a danna partnership was in previous decades not seen as essential, in modern times it is valued to a much greater degree, due to the formal nature of the commitment and the awareness by both parties of how expensive it can be. The taking of a patron by a geisha is the closest thing to paid compensation for a personal partnership – whatever that partnership might entail – that a geisha officially engages in today.[4]

During the Allied occupation of Japan, some prostitutes, almost exclusively working for the occupying forces in Japan, began to advertise themselves as "geisha girls", due in part to the fact that many foreign soldiers could not tell the difference between a geisha and a woman dressed in a kimono. These women came to be known commonly as "geesha girls",[55][56] a misnomer originating from the language barrier between the armed forces and the prostitutes themselves; the term spread quickly, as evidenced by the fact that shortly after their arrival in 1945, it was said that some occupying American GIs congregated in Ginza and shouted "We want geesha girls!".[57]

The English term "geisha girl" soon became a byword for any female Japanese prostitute, whether actually selling sex or not; the term was applied to bar hostesses (who occupy the role of entertaining men through conversation, not necessarily sex) and streetwalkers alike.[55] The term "geisha girls", its quick spread to Western culture, and the accompanying mental image of a woman in a kimono offering sex and entertainment, is largely speculated as responsible for the continuing misconception in the West that all geisha are engaged in prostitution.[55]

Mizuage (水揚げ) – lit., "raising the waters"[58] – was a ceremony undergone by junior kamuro (apprentice courtesans) and some maiko as part of the process of promotion to senior status. Originally meaning the unloading of a ship's cargo of fish, over time, the term became an innuendo for money earned in the karyūkai,[9] another name for the entertainment business being the mizu shōbai – literally, "the water business".

Alongside changes in appearance – such as from the junior wareshinobu hairstyle to the more senior ofuku style,[55] – and visits paid to businesses and places of importance around the karyūkai, an apprentice would occasionally have their virginity sold to a patron, who ostensibly supported their graduation to geisha status – usually through the exorbitant fee charged for the privilege. Unscrupulous okiya owners would not uncommonly sell an apprentice's virginity more than once to different customers, pocketing the entire fee for themselves with the apprentice herself remaining an apprentice.

During World War II, some prostitutes would use this term to refer to their acts with customers, leading to some confusion – particularly when referring to themselves as "geisha" when in the company of foreign soldiers, and sometimes amongst Japanese customers.[59] After 1956, prostitution was criminalised in Japan, and mizuage is no longer practiced within the karyukai.[60]

The maiko Mamechiho in the Gion district. Notice the green pin on the mid-left known as "tsunagi-dango": this identifies her as a maiko of Gion Kobu under 18.

Both maiko and geisha wear traditional white foundation known as oshiroi; this is worn with red and black eye and eyebrow makeup, red lips and light pink blusher. Both maiko and geisha underpaint their lips with a red lipstick known as beni, but first-year apprentice geisha paint only the lower lip, and wear less black around the eyes and eyebrows than senior maiko. Younger apprentices may also paint their eyebrows slightly shorter or rounder to emphasise a youthful appearance.[84] Maiko wear noticeably more blush – known as tonoko – than geisha.[85] Young apprentices may have the mother of the house or their "older sister" mentors help them apply makeup.

Geisha wear more black around the eyes and eyebrows than maiko, and older geisha tend only to wear a full face of traditional white makeup during stage performances or on special occasions; older geisha generally stop wearing oshiroi around the same time they stop wearing hikizuri to parties.

For a short period before becoming a geisha, maiko in some geisha districts colour their teeth black, usually accompanied by wearing the sakkō hairstyle and a decorated black formal kimono. Teeth blackening was once a common practice amongst married women in Japan and the imperial court in earlier times, but is now an extremely uncommon practice.

A senior maiko (left) wearing a long darari obi and a geisha (right) wearing an obi in the taiko-musubi style

Geisha and maiko always wear kimono while working, and typically wear kimono outside of work. However, the type of kimono varies based on age, occasion, region and season of the year.

Both maiko and geisha wear the collar on their kimono relatively far back, accentuating (for maiko) the red collar of the underkimono (juban), and displaying (for both) the two or three stripes of bare skin (eri-ashi and sanbon-ashi respectively) left just underneath the hairline when wearing oshiroi.

Apprentice geisha wear kimono known as hikizuri. Geisha also wear hikizuri; however, maiko wear a variety with furisode-style sleeves, with a tuck sewn into either sleeve, and a tuck sewn into each shoulder. Maiko hikizuri tend to be colourful and highly decorated, often featuring a design that continues inside the kimono's hem.

The style of this kimono varies throughout different regions; apprentices in Kyoto tend to wear large but sparsely-placed motifs, whereas apprentices elsewhere appear in kimono similar to a regular furisode, with small, busy patterns that cover a greater area.

Apprentices wear long, formal obi. For apprentices in Kyoto this is almost always a darari (lit., "dangling") obi, a type of obi roughly 6 metres (20 ft) long, but elsewhere may be the shorter and narrower fukuro obi. Darari obi are always worn in a knot showing off the length, whereas apprentices elsewhere wear fukura-suzume and han-dara (lit., "half dangling") knots. When wearing casual kimono in off-duty settings, an apprentice may still wear a nagoya obi, even with a yukata.

Apprentices wear either zōri or okobo with their kimono, with okobo being worn (in Kyoto at least) with all formal kimono.[9] For training and in everyday life, zōri are worn, even when wearing casual short-sleeved kimono such as komon and yukata.

Geisha wear kimono more subdued in pattern and colour than both regular kimono, and the kimono worn by apprentice geisha. A geisha always wears a short-sleeved kimono, regardless of occasion, formality, or even her age; however, not all geisha wear the hikizuri type of kimono, as older geisha wear regular formal kimono – with no trailing skirt, dipping collar or offset sleeves – to engagements. Regional geisha tend to have greater similarities with fellow geisha across the country in terms of appearance.

Geisha wear their obi in the nijuudaiko musubi style – a taiko musubi (drum knot) tied with a fukuro obi; geisha from Tokyo and Kanazawa also wear their obi in the yanagi musubi (willow knot) style and the tsunodashi musubi style. Though geisha may wear hakata ori obi in the summer months, geisha from Fukuoka – where the fabric originates from – may wear it the entire year.

Geisha exclusively wear solid white han-eri, and wear either geta or zōri when wearing kimono.

Mamechiho as a geisha

The hairstyles of geisha have varied throughout history. During the 17th century, the shimada hairstyle developed, which became the basis for the hairstyles worn by both geisha and maiko. When the profession of geisha first came into existence, dress edicts prevented geisha from wearing the dramatic hairstyles worn by courtesans, leading to the subdued nature of most geisha hairstyles.

Following World War II, many of the hairstylists who had previously served the karyūkai no longer operated, leading to the redevelopment of hairstyles for geisha and maiko. Geisha, unable to reliably book in with a hairstylist once a week to maintain their hair, began to wear human hair wigs in the shimada style that required restyling far less. The hairstyles of maiko, still utilising the apprentice's own hair, became wider, placed higher upon the head, and shorter in length.[86]

There are five different hairstyles that a maiko wears, which mark the different stages of her apprenticeship. The nihongami hairstyle with kanzashi hair ornaments are most closely associated with maiko,[85] who spend hours each week at the hairdresser and sleep on special pillows (takamakura) to preserve the elaborate styling.[42]^:3[87] Maiko can develop a bald spot on their crown caused by the stress of wearing these hairstyles almost every day, but in the present day, this is less likely to happen due to the later age at which maiko begin their apprenticeship. Maiko in certain districts of Kyoto may also wear additional, differing hairstyles in the run up to graduating as a geisha.

In the present day, geisha wear a variety of the shimada known as the tsubushi shimada – a flattened, sleeker version of the taka shimada worn as a bridal wig in traditional weddings. Though geisha also wear this hairstyle as a wig, it is usually shaped specifically to their face by a wig stylist.

Both the hairstyles of maiko and geisha are decorated with hair combs and hairpins (kanzashi), with geisha wearing far fewer kanzashi than maiko. The style and colour of hair accessories worn with some maiko hairstyles can signify the stage of an apprentice's training. Typical combs and hairpins may be made of tortoiseshell or mock-tortoiseshell, gold, silver and semi-precious stones such as jade and coral.

• Sisters of the Gion (1936)—Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
• The Life of Oharu (西鶴一代女 Saikaku Ichidai Onna) (1952)—Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
• A Geisha (祇園囃子, Gion bayashi) (1953)—Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
• The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956)—Dir. Daniel Mann
• The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958)—Dir. John Huston
• The Geisha Boy (1958)—Dir. Frank Tashlin
• Late Chrysanthemums (Bangiku) (1958)—Dir. Mikio Naruse
• Cry for Happy (1961)—George Marshall comedy
• My Geisha (1962)—Dir. Jack Cardiff
• The Wolves (1971)—Dir. Hideo Gosha
• The World of Geisha (1973)—Dir. Tatsumi Kumashiro
• In the Realm of the Senses (1976)—Dir. Nagisa Oshima
• Ihara Saikaku Koshoku Ichidai Otoko (1991)—Dir. Yukio Abe
• The Geisha House (1999)—Dir. Kinji Fukasaku
• The Sea is Watching (2002)—Dir. Kei Kumai
• Zatoichi (2003)—Dir. Takeshi Kitano
• Fighter in the Wind (2004)—Dir. Yang Yun-ho
• Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)—Dir. Rob Marshall
• Wakeful Nights (2005)—Dir. Masahiko Tsugawa
• Maiko Haaaan!!! (2007)—Dir. Nobuo Mizuta
• Lady Maiko (2014)—Dir. Masayuki Suo