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=O save me

Wow. I didn't know that either!! So I checked our friend Wikipedia.

Apparently, most Geisha were male, which is not so weird considering every form of entertainment was performed by men. Female roles in traditional Japanese plays are still played by men. I was confused with regards to the Geisha's being male because I thought that there was sometimes sex involved, but apparently (according to Wiki) that is not true..

Now Wiki is not a sacred encyclopedia, so I would like to hear some other thoughts or theories on this.
 
Indeed, someone with a higher knowledge in this subject please come indulge us! 👍

edit--
After reading up on it, It appears that in the beginning, most Geisha were maile, but by the 1800's females were predominat in the Geisha business. Also unlike popular Western belief, Geisha did not sell themselves for sex, so male Geisha doesn't seem too wierd Imo. They were bought for their entertaining talent, and mostly the farthest they went was flirting and friendly banter.
 
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no i've read to many books i belive that maybe over the years geisha became female...=[


edit: well i didn't really have time this morning to think about what i was saying...and i didn't finish reading earlier. okay so around the 1800's is when male geisha stopped...existing (so to speak) well how did female geisha begin then??

=[help me...
 
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Also unlike popular Western belief, Geisha did not sell themselves for sex, so male Geisha doesn't seem too wierd Imo.
Modern geisha are not prostitutes, therefore, all geisha throughout history were not prostitutes. Think about this logic.

Also, its very easy to simplify the definition of prostitute and then say, oh yes, a geisha is definitely not that, but if you look at the industry it's very much like prostitution.

Also, you have to look at the entertainment sectors of old Japan, not exactly the most clean-cut group of folk... Kibuki is basically a cultural tradition practitioned by freewheeling male harlots...

Some things we'd like to imagine to be completely pure in image, but history doesn't always tell the same story.
 
Geisha in Kanji literally means " Entertainers of Arts ".I think there is a beginners level Maiko or Mako,they're the apprentices of arts.

My computer doesn't have Chinese or Japanese fonts,I can't type up those 2 Kanji characters.

Traditional full-fledged Geisha aren't professional prostitutes,a few could've been kept by wealthy patrons past and present.
 
Interestingly enough however, the nifty translator translates 置き屋 (おきや) okiya as brothel... where other places simply say "geisha dwelling."

This Wiki entry here defines the place of a geisha's house as being within the 花街 (かがい) kagai or red light district.

This is the most interesting passage in the above linked wiki entry...

芸妓は芸事(歌・踊り)を中心におかれる存在で、肉体を主とする遊女と同一視すべきでは無い。従って、花街は遊郭や赤線と区別するべきである。しかし江戸時代の高級遊女は芸事を身に付け単なる売春婦とは同一視できなかったこと、また芸妓の表看板を出していても実際には金銭で簡単に交渉に応じる者が多かったことなどの事情もあって、両者のイメージは混同されがちである。現在においても日本以外の国を初め、日本国内でも芸妓や花街に対するマイナスイメージ、 偏見や 誤解がいまだに解かれていないのが現状である。

Someone else may help in translating it better, but part of it remarks that you should distinguish the red-light district from a liscenced prostitution quarter--- but that the professions overlap in some ways---

Also, there are several different kanji-compounds for red light district, another in the text is 遊郭 (ゆうかく) yuukaku...

I'm no geisha expert, in the slightest, but I think the lines are blured a little more than either (he/she) is or (he/she) isn't (a prostitute), which is never what I had said in the first place... But I think a better place to start would be Japanese texts, rather than English ones.
 
the first geisha were MALES?!?! :( i'm so confused now☝

I'm not sure whether it's true because I'm no expert on this, but I've been told that the history of geishas go back to the Heian Period, and "shirabyoshi" (窶昶?吮?敖焦スq) is the origin. The most famous of them was "Shizuka-gozen," a top dancer (equivalent to a prima ballerina?) who was also lover to a famous Genji figure, Yoshitsune.

Shirabyōshi - Wikipedia

You can see the stage where she reportedly danced at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu in Kamakura (Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan).

The "otoko-geisha" mentioned here is "hokan" ツ(窶コテアナ?テ板), another category of entertainer who I understand played mostly a complementary part to entertainment provided by geishas. They are known as "taiko-mochi" (窶伉セナ津崘スツ昶?堋ソツ), meaning drum carrier, suggesting that they played the drums while the geisha danced and played the shamisen (a Japanese string musical instrument resembling a guitar). They might have entertained guests in the absence of geisha (I'm not sure about this), but I think their art was not mainstream.

I also could not find any evidence that the hokan was the origin of the geisha anywhere in the Japanese-language Web pages. This claim is made only by the Wikipedia page mentioned.

What I've posted here is the general understanding that we Japanese have, but I can't substantiate it with academic research--only with Web pages in Japanese.
I may have to check out a history book in the library but I haven't got time. 🙇‍♂️
 
wow thanks for al of your help =] um i've done so much research in the past i knew most of that.. the male thing just startled me and i never knew that. now i have another question. is there any magazines that perhaps someone IN japan knows has geisha in it? cause i'd love to possibly buy it and what not =]
 
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