Yoshiwara, the pleasure district of Japan. Gambling, fine dining, entertainment, and…Courtesans and Geishas in luxurious silk kimonos. In the early 1600s, Tokugawa Shogunate released an order to restrict prostitution to certain areas along the outside of town. This place was referred to as yukaku, the pleasure quarter. One of the most famous is Yoshiwara in Edo. Prostitutes are never allowed to leave the walls and lone Samurai are never allowed in. It’s here in this place that we find our Geishas and courtesans. Geisha’s are not to be confused with courtesans. Geisha’s are traditional Japanese performers. The first geisha weren’t even really women; they were men posing as women to entertain guests as they waited for higher ranking courtesans.
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While these courtesans exist to meet the sexual needs of the customers, Geishas were artists and intellectual female companions. It’s easy to distinguish a young geisha or maiko by their white makeup, intricate red collared kimonos, ankle length obi, wooden okobo, and pristine hair styles. The different hairstyles represent five different stage of a maiko’s apprenticeship to geisha. The nihongami, or curved traditional hairstyle, with kanzashi decorated hair strips is a hairstyle indicative of a maiko. A geisha over the age of 21 is considered to old to be a maiko, becoming geikos, then completing their training and becoming geishas. Geikos kimonos and hair styles are less elaborate. Harunobu’s Geisha Visiting a Shrine on a Rainy Night (1760) is a print that best depicts what the traditional Geisha garments, obi, sandals, and hairstyle would look like in the 1800s. She also doesn’t have the bold white makeup of a maiko. Courtesans, similar to the looks of geisha, are a more extravagant version. Like Utamaro’s Cherry Blossoms: Segaww of the matsubaya in Edo-machi Itchome, courtesans tend to wear lots of hair ornaments, extravagant robes, and don’t use their hairstyles as a method of
While these courtesans exist to meet the sexual needs of the customers, Geishas were artists and intellectual female companions. It’s easy to distinguish a young geisha or maiko by their white makeup, intricate red collared kimonos, ankle length obi, wooden okobo, and pristine hair styles. The different hairstyles represent five different stage of a maiko’s apprenticeship to geisha. The nihongami, or curved traditional hairstyle, with kanzashi decorated hair strips is a hairstyle indicative of a maiko. A geisha over the age of 21 is considered to old to be a maiko, becoming geikos, then completing their training and becoming geishas. Geikos kimonos and hair styles are less elaborate. Harunobu’s Geisha Visiting a Shrine on a Rainy Night (1760) is a print that best depicts what the traditional Geisha garments, obi, sandals, and hairstyle would look like in the 1800s. She also doesn’t have the bold white makeup of a maiko. Courtesans, similar to the looks of geisha, are a more extravagant version. Like Utamaro’s Cherry Blossoms: Segaww of the matsubaya in Edo-machi Itchome, courtesans tend to wear lots of hair ornaments, extravagant robes, and don’t use their hairstyles as a method of