This is another presentation I made about the common misconception of geisha being professional prostitutes. This will be a part of the Intro to Japanese course on memrise.com.

1. The wor d gei sha
t ends t o conj ur e
up a cer t ai n
im age.

2. But , i n f act , t he wor d
gei sha m eans som hi ng
et
l i ke ar t - doer . I n ot her
wor ds, an ar t i st .

3. Act ual l y, t hey have t o go
t hr ough sever al year s of
expensi ve t r ai ni ng bef or e
becom ng f ul l gei sha.
i

4. Pr e- 20 t h Cent ur y, gi r l s st ar t ed
t r ai ni ng as ear l y as 4.
Not an actual geisha trainee

6. Gei sha st i l l l ear n t he t r adi t i onal
ar t s l i ke pl ayi ng sham sen,i
shakuhachi , and dr um s. They al so
l ear n ot her t r adi t i onal ar t s l i ke
cal l i gr aphy, dances and t ea
cer em ony.

7. In m oder n Japan, you wi l l
r ar el y see gei sha on t he
st r eet .

8. The ' gei sha' you do see ar e
of t en t our i st s who pay t o dr ess
up as gei sha.
Wig
Kimono are way
too gaudy.

9. Gei sha now per f or m at t ea
houses, ochaya or t r adi t i onal
Japanese r est aur ant s, r yot ei .
Source: http://ochaya.kyo2.jp

10. They ar e pai d by t he num ber of
i ncense st i cks t hat bur n dur i ng
t hei r per f or mance and di f f er ent
gei sha have di f f er ent senkodai or
i ncense st i ck f ee.

11. Ther e have been a f ew non- Japanese
gei sha. The most not abl e west er n
i s Fi ona Gr aham who i s f r om
,
Aust r al i a.

12. I n Febr uar y 2011, t he Asakusa
Gei sha associ at i on al l egedl y
di saf f i l i at ed her .

13. So, wher e does t hi s
m sconcept i on of gei sha as
i
pr ost i t ut es com f r om
e ?
= ?

14. W l , shor t l y af t er W l d W
el or ar
I I , pr of essi onal pr ost i t ut es
f ashi oned t hem sel ves as “ gei sha
gi r l s” .
Geisha Girl?

15. At t he sam t i m
e e, not m any r eal
gei sha wer e wor ki ng, so t hat ' s
how gei sha cam t o be
e
synonym ous wi t h pr ost i t ut es.