Liza Crihfield Dalby is an American anthropologist and novelist specializing in Japanese culture. For her graduate studies, Dalby studied and performed fieldwork in Japan of the geisha community of Ponto-chō, which she wrote about in her Ph.D. dissertation, entitled The institution of the geisha in modern Japanese society. Since that time, she has written five books. Her first book, Geisha, was based on her early research. The next book, Kimono: Fashioning Culture is about traditional Japanese clothing and the history of the kimono. This was followed with a fictional account of the Heian era noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu, titled The Tale of Murasaki. In 2007 she wrote a memoir, East Wind Melts the Ice, which was followed two years later by a second work of fiction, Hidden Buddhas.
Mizuage was a ceremony undergone by apprentice oiran and some maiko as part of their coming of age ceremony and graduation.
Gion (祇園) is a district of Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Japan, originating as an entertainment district in the Sengoku period, in front of Yasaka Shrine. The district was built to accommodate the needs of travellers and visitors to the shrine. It eventually evolved to become one of the most exclusive and well-known geisha districts in all of Japan. Gion is the Japanese translation of the Buddhist term Jetavana. Yasaka Shrine, located in this district is the center of the Gion faith.
Arthur Sulzberger Golden is an American writer. He is the author of the bestselling novel Memoirs of a Geisha (1997).
Mineko Iwasaki is a Japanese businesswoman, author and former geisha. Iwasaki was the most famous geisha in Japan until her sudden retirement at the age of 29. Known for her performances for celebrity and royalty during her geisha life, Iwasaki was the heir apparent to her geisha house while she was just a young apprentice.
A Geisha or Gion Festival Music is a 1953 Japanese drama film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, centred on the geisha milieu in post-war Gion, Kyoto. It is based on a novel by Matsutarō Kawaguchi.
Suzuka Ohgo is a Japanese actress.
Onsen geisha (温泉芸者) is the Japanese term geisha working in onsen resorts or towns, known for their traditions of performance and entertainment style, which differ significantly to geisha working in other areas of Japan.
An okiya (置屋) is the lodging house/drinking establishment to which a maiko or geisha is affiliated with during her career as a geisha. The okiya is typically run by the "mother" of the house, who handles a geisha's engagements, the development of her skills, and funds her training through a particular teahouse. Though a geisha is legally required to be registered to an okiya in order to work, and may live there as a trainee, it is not a legal requirement for geisha to live within their okiya.
Memoirs of a Geisha is a 2005 American epic period drama film directed by Rob Marshall and adapted by Robin Swicord from the 1997 novel of the same name by Arthur Golden. It tells the story of a young Japanese girl, Chiyo Sakamoto, who is sold by her impoverished family to a geisha house to support them by training as and eventually becoming a geisha under the pseudonym "Sayuri Nitta." The film centers around the sacrifices and hardship faced by pre-World War II geisha, and the challenges posed to geisha society by the war and a modernizing world. It stars Zhang Ziyi in the lead role, with Ken Watanabe, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh, Youki Kudoh, Suzuka Ohgo, and Samantha Futerman.
Chiyo is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include:
Memoirs of a Geisha: Original Motion Picture Soundtrackis the film score to the 2005 film of the same name, composed and conducted by John Williams. The original score and songs were composed and conducted by Williams and feature Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman as cellist and violinist, respectively. The soundtrack album was released by Sony Classical Records on November 22, 2005.
In Japan, an ochaya is an establishment where patrons are entertained by geisha.
The Ichiriki Teahouse, formerly Ichiriki Mansion, is an historic ochaya in Kyoto, Japan. It is located at the southeast corner of Shijō Street and Hanami Lane, its entrance right at the heart of the Gion Kobu district.
Sisters of the Gion or Sisters of Gion is a 1936 black and white Japanese drama film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi about two geisha sisters living in Kyoto's Gion district. It forms a diptych with Mizoguchi's Osaka Elegy which shares much of the same cast and production team.
Geisha in Rivalry, also translated under the title of Rivalry: A Geisha's Tale, is a Japanese novel written by Nagai Kafu about the Tokyo hanamachi of Shimbashi in the early 20th century. First published in the Japanese language in 1918, the book was first translated into English in 1963.
Autobiography of a Geisha is a book by Sayo Masuda. It was first published in Japan in 1957, and the English translation by G. G. Rowley was published in 2003. Masuda wrote her autobiography between the years of 1956 and 1957 in response to a magazine ad for a non-fiction women's writing competition. Having never learned to read kanji, Masuda wrote the entire book in hiragana, with her editors carefully working to convert her writing into standard kanji while preserving the feeling of her original writing.
Geisha (芸者), also known as geiko (芸子) or geigi (芸妓), are female Japanese performing artists and entertainers trained in traditional Japanese performing arts styles, such as dance, music and singing, as well as being proficient conversationalists and hosts. Their distinct appearance is characterised by long, trailing kimono, traditional hairstyles and oshiroi make-up. Geisha entertain at parties known as ozashiki, often for the entertainment of wealthy clientele, as well as performing on stage and at festivals.
Yuki Kato (加藤ユキ), also known as Morgan O-Yuki (モルガンお雪), was a Japanese geisha who married George Denison Morgan, nephew of Pierpont Morgan of the Morgan banking dynasty.
The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House (舞妓さんちのまかないさん) is a Japanese television series about contemporary life in a geisha house in Kyoto, Japan. The series stars Nana Mori, Natsuki Deguchi, and Aju Makita, released by Netflix on January 12, 2023. Hirokazu Kore-eda served as director, writer, and showrunner, The Makanai being his first time directing a Netflix production.
