The Shamisen

This piece of digital artwork shows a Shamisen, a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument, along with drawn images of the different stages of a Geisha’s career. The Shamisen represents the skills that a Geisha must possess. This is because Geisha go through extensive schooling and must learn how to play the Shamisen, as well as the Koto, and often the Shakuhachi. This was the perfect instrument to represent a Geisha’s schooling because of the long neck, depicting the lengthy hours of schooling and prolonged career. Each drawing on the neck of the Shamisen represent a different stage in a Geishas career. The first stage, Shikomi, is the beginning of the journey. At this point, the girl must work as a maid for the Okiya, often cleaning and running errands while attending school to learn the traditional skills of a Geisha. The drawing is of a younger girl without makeup holding a book full of her tasks for the day. …show more content…
In the Erikae stage, the geiko must dress and act more like a woman. Her collar will change to the color white and she will wear a different form of a kimono. The visual for this stage shows the maikos colored collar from the stage prior transform into the white collar of a geiko. This, as well as the other changes in appearance, are symbolic in showing the maturity in the woman herself.
The long cycle of a Geishas life now allows the geiko to become an onesan, or mentor, to a maiko. Similarly to how a Geisha was mentored when she was younger, she is given the opportunity to give back to the community and teach a maiko herself. A tradition that binds a maiko and a geiko, San San Kudo, typically comes after the Erikae stage. This point in a Geishas career is shown by a tea kettle and three cups. In this ritual, both the maiko and geiko are supposed to take three sips from each of the three cups, thus uniting the