Geisha

When Japanese people talking about what images foreigners have about Japan,
some says that they do not know more than Geisha or Harakiri.
I do not know how much normal foreigners know about Japanese culture,
but it is not only me feel the foreigner's images on Geisha or Harakiri
are different from the exact meaning of them.

The movie "Sayuri" described a Geisha.
I have not watched it, but a friend of mine watched it and said
"It was too funny to try not to laugh.
That is the Geisha foreigners visualize."

I am novice in Harakiri but not in Geisha.
So I try to write something about it.

The word Geisha is composed of two words "Gei" and "Sha".
"Gei" means artistic accomplishments.
"Sha" means persons.
So "Geisha" means persons with artistic acomplishments.

I can not deny the Exeptions,
but I think most of Geisha were not just prostitutes.

Commonly women who is called Geisha now were thought to be
highly sophisticated cultural ladies.
They had to be good at Haiku and other Poems , musics, caligraphy, and many other arts.

I had a research on one whose name was Nobu.
She was very famous lady for her beauty in the end of 18th century.
Bakin , the great writer of the Edo period, also wrote about her in "Kiryomanroku".
He met her at the party and told her to make an impromptu Haiku.
Then Nobu made a nice one and wrote down finely.

We can see her Haiku in collections of Haiku edited by Ranko or Teiga.
She also created rylics of Jiuta, popular songs accompanied with Shamisen.
I think she was one of the greatest cultural persons in those days.

The area women who are called Geisha worked in was not the redlight district.
It was the place cultural persons communicated with each other.

We can not talk about Japanese culture (in Edo period)
without knowing about Geisha and their surroundings.