“Remember, Chiyo, geisha are not courtesans. And we are not wives. We sell our skills, not our bodies. We create another secret world, a place only of beauty. The very word ‘geisha’ means artist and to be a geisha is to be judged as a moving work of art” (Memoirs of a Geisha 2005 movie). One of the stereotypes most frequently associated with Japan is the existence of a caste of prostitutes known as geisha. Geisha, however, disagree with this label and prefer to define themselves as female entertainers who act as hostesses for large events or private entertainers for anyone willing to pay for their time. Nevertheless, the seemingly chaste job description does not prevent even people within Japan from associating geisha with the sex trade. So, in order for geisha to maintain their reputation as high-class artists, it became necessary for them, as a group, to adopt certain practices that would differentiate them from prostitutes. Despite all the geisha’s efforts to separate themselves from their colleagues in the sex industry, the root of their profession still remains; geisha are simply a class of prostitutes under a different name.
In an effort to dispel the supposed rumors of their promiscuity and ties to the sex industry, geisha make it a point to present themselves as a separate and distinct social group. They try to accomplish this goal by claiming that they are artists rather than simply women selling their bodies for money, and use the rigorous geisha schooling system as evidence of this claim. Schooling, however, does nothing to help to disprove the originally made assertion that geisha are prostitutes; being required to receive an education prior to entering a certain profession does not change the nature of the profession itself. Geishas’ self-supposed superiority over prostitutes can also be seen in the manner in which they each tie their obi; geisha tie their obi behind their backs while prostitutes tie their obi in the front. The reason why prostitutes tie their obi in the front is for practicality; there is no reason to bother tying the obi in the back if it will only be untied again shortly thereafter. Geisha, on the other hand, tie their obi behind their backs simply as a public statement underscoring the supposed difference between the two classes. Geisha try hard to show how different they are from prostitutes, but their overcompensation only helps to illustrate how closely related the two professions are.
Many of the aspects seen in the prostitution profession are blatantly present in the geisha profession. For the majority of those who oppose prostitution, its largest turn-off is that many of the girls are seized and forced to have sex without their consent. However, this phenomenon is not isolated only to prostitutes; geisha are often acquired in the exact same way. In Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha, Chiyo and Satsu are two sisters both taken away from their family and brought to Kyoto. Chiyo, the prettier one, was sent to an okiya where she began her training as a geisha. Satsu, considered to not be pretty enough for the task, was sent to a brothel. Furthermore, not only were they obtained in the same fashion, but the hierarchical structure in both of their new homes was much the same. Granny, and later Mother, was entirely in charge of Chiyo’s life. Chiyo was wholly in their control. She could not even go outside without their permission, much less make the decision for herself about whether she actually wants to become a geisha — and when she decided to run away rather than study to be a geisha, she was severely reprimanded. Similarly, Mrs. Kishino had the same role in Satsu’s life as Granny and Mother did. Satsu was never given the ability to make her own decision about whether she would want to become a prostitute. Instead, Mrs. Kishino simply told her what to do and who to sleep with. So, both Satsu and Chiyo had similar experiences in their respective professions even though one was a prostitute while the other was a future geisha.
Geisha exhibit several practices that are prostitution in its entirety, but made to seem justified by making the process seem more fashionable and noble. One of the most important days in the life of a geisha is the day of her mizuage, which takes places when she is a maiko (apprentice geisha) of around fourteen years of age. Traditionally, mizuage represents a girl’s transition from childhood to adulthood and involves the taking of her virginity. The act alone of forcing a girl to have sex with a stranger who she does not necessarily want to have sex with very strongly resembles prostitution. However, the connection does not stop there; the male who takes the girl’s virginity must also pay her for allowing him to have sex with her. Mizuage is simply prostitution disguised as an innocent celebration. Furthermore, mizuage is not the only incident in which a male pays a geisha to have sex with him. For all geisha, the key to success in the field is to obtain a danna. A danna, as described by Chiyo, is:
The term a wife uses for her husband…but a geisha who refers to her danna isn’t talking about a husband. Geisha never marry… the terms of arrangement will probably oblige the danna to pay off a portion of the geisha’s debts and cover many of her living expenses… he’s also entitled to certain “privileges”
(Golden 145-146).
Danna are simply loyal customers of a particular geisha who pay more for her time than regular customers do and are thus entitled to have sex with her. So, the goal for which all geisha are striving because it means success in the field, is to have someone in their life that pays them for sex. Both mizuage and danna are acts in which a man pays a geisha to have sex with him, which, by definition, is prostitution.
Geisha and prostitutes are one and the same; they both sell their bodies to anyone willing to pay for it. While geisha are only able to offer a weak counterargument, there is much evidence of the connection between the two; the way in which geisha enter the profession, the style of their lives in the okiya, and the various practices that they observe strongly resemble those of prostitutes. Although geisha try to present themselves as a more refined group — superior to the morally sordid prostitutes — the lives of geisha parallel those of their counterparts in their sister profession in the sex industry.