...Geisha “Gei” means arts or performances, and “sha” means people of Japanese. When we think of geisha’s what comes to mind are women dressed in bright clothing culture clothing, white painted faces and a dainty walk. What we don’t consider is the lack of emotion, strict code of silence and secrecy. Geisha, just like prostitutes are trained to have a strict code of silence and protectiveness toward their clients. Elderly geisha could be considered Madams, who provided training to new recruits. Over the centuries, elderly geisha have also developed a deeply routed tradition of secrecy. Elderly women behind the mask have fulfilled a destiny rooted in Japanese history. Although associated with prostitution, many modern day women continue to seek this tradition. My research however, revealed contradictory information on whether or not geisha were actually prostitutes. The majority of my research material stated geisha actually started as men jesters and musicians who entertained in brothels. This continued until 1751 when the first document record of female geisha appeared. Most documented material on geisha treated them as images of lovely passive girls whose purpose was solely in male entertainment and pleasure or as prostitutes or courtesans. During the time period of 1751 it was not uncommon for actors to double as prostitutes. It was also not uncommon for Meiji government officials to select geisha for their wives. It is still said that geisha inhabit a separate...
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...Cultural Observation: Secret Life of Geisha To this day, the Geisha remains an iconic symbol of Japan’s culture and history. Geisha first appeared in the early 1600’s during the rule of the Shogun. At this time, Japan had isolated itself from the rest of the world and remained this way for hundreds of years. Geisha were originally male artists and entertainers who performed at banquets. Female prostitutes would also entertain male warriors at banquets inside the pleasure corridors. Eventually, some of the female prostitutes began learning the art of geisha in order to increase their clientele. Before long, more customers preferred the company of female geishas causing the male geishas to become obsolete. By 1779, Geisha art was declared an official line of business by the Kenban, a registry office, who stated that sex wasn’t allowed as part of geisha services. This was done to prevent competition between geisha and prostitutes. The word geisha means “artist,” and they must excel in dance, art, and literature. If a young woman desires to become a geisha, she must complete five years of training as an apprentice, or “maiko.” Each maiko has an older sister, which is an elite geisha who teaches her everything she needs to know. Geisha girls must leave their families and former life behind once they move into the geisha house. In the documentary The Secret Life of Geisha, Yuiko is a young maiko living and training at a geisha house in Kyoto. She expressed her worries about moving...
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...Memoirs of a Geisha holds many different components and raise many different questions about Japanese and American culture, culture of geishas, and the effect of World War II had on Japan. A long standing stigma has been placed on Japanese Geisha girls. When someone thinks of a Geisha, they think of a glorified prostitute or call girl. Geishas are entertainers, and they are trained vigorously in art, music and dancing. Geishas have been entertaining for more than 350 years. The translation of Geisha in English is artist and becoming a Geisha is an honor to the girls. After World War and after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the President, Franklin D. Roosevelt declared all Japanese-American are to be moved from the West Coast with the Executive...
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...it can put out fire; it can wear a piece of metal down and sweep it away. Even wood, which is its natural complement, can't survive without being nurtured by water. And yet, you haven't drawn on those strengths in living your life, have you?” (Golden, 125) What Separates Sayuri for the Other Geishas During the Shōwa period, Geishas were high-class entertainers that sometimes sold their bodies for money. They strived on perfecting their artistic attributes rather then prostituting their bodies for money. In the novel Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden writes primarily about the life of a nine-year-old girl named Chiyo and her path to becoming a geisha. Golden uses Chiyo’s origins, eye color (destiny) and determination to contrast her with other geishas. However, he does not just narrate her life from another’s perspective. He gives Chiyo herself the role of telling her own story. As Golden introduces Chiyo’s memoir, he exaggerates the hardships in little Chiyo’s life. Coming from a poor fishing village (called Yoroido), she is sold off to a geisha house, separated from her sister, who she finds and tries to escape with (which failed). Later on in life when Chiyo (Sayuri) becomes a geisha, she confesses that she rarely tells anyone about where she was born. Their responses concerning her origin go as such, ‘“You growing up in a dump like Yoroido. That’s like making tea in a bucket!”’ These reactions further recluse Sayuri from telling other men she entertains about her past. People...
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...Japan through his characters' mannerisms and subtle aspects of it. The symbol of the samurai and geisha within Kawase's relationships with Kimiko and Asaka embody Mishima's concept of artificiality in the Japanese domestic scene. Kawase and Kimiko had a traditional and dominance-based relationship in their marriage. They lived customary lives in which Kimiko was loyal and dependent of her husband. Though in his absence, infidelity caused a rift between the two sides of the family. Kawase disregarded his family's "loneliness" (56) the night in San Francisco where Asaka "stayed the night" (54). Kawase and Kimiko have a relationship in which their roles are similar to those of a samurai and geisha. Although they are married, Kawase only gives so much concern for his wife while staying in San Francisco. Instead of returning home to her, he put it off to spend time with a woman whom he had an affair with. The samurai, similar to Kawase, did not fully commit to a geisha as she was used for pleasure or entertainment. Kimiko likewise respected and highly regarded her husband as would a geisha to a samurai. The two's extramarital affairs exemplify the samurai and geisha's satisfying but disloyal relationship. Though the geisha and samurai's roles and Kimiko and Kawase's roles contrast, aspects of the marriage are what make up the other association. Considering that Asaka was originally a geisha, her relationship with Kawase was one of brisk "expediency" (53). Kawase made sure "all his...
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...What are we to do? We must use whatever methods we can to understand the movement of the universe around us and time our actions so that we are not fighting the currents, but moving with them.” -Author Golden Eric Lemaire 05/12/06 English Comp II Professor Everest The geisha world has been a mystery to those outside the entourage for as long as okia houses have been around. In Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha, a heartfelt and powerful story is told on how an unusually beautiful nine-year-old girl from an impoverished fishing family around the mid 1910’s finds herself torn apart from her family members in the blink of an eye and how she is taken to Kyoto and sold into slavery to a geisha house. The lost of her father, mother, and sister amounts to only a fraction of the pain she is subjected to as she is repeatedly faced with the loss of identity and abandonment of her life, dreams, and loved ones over the course of her life. Poor Chiyo finds herself in a state of hopelessness and one day she is treated with the deepest form of kindness by an elderly man who was accompanied by a geisha. From that day forward, young Chiyo devotes every ounce of energy she possessed in becoming a geisha and perhaps one day meeting this kind stranger yet once again in hopes of living out the remaining of her life happy. This...
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...house, they are the one who pours tea on their tea cup. In Japan we can see in their culture that women are dancing sign that those people are welcome. They preserve traditional arts such as dance and song. 2. How will you characterized Hatsumomo? Hatsumomo was the only working geisha in the whole house when Chiyo arrived in Nitta-Okiya. She was the only one who worked and brought an income in the house. Although she was a beautiful woman, she was very rude to Chiyo and she looks Chiyo as a threat on her future. Hatsumomo set her mind on destroying Chiyo/Sayuri’s future as a geisha. She always tried to humiliate or embarrassed Sayuri in every opportunity Sayuri could get but in the end her selfishness and hate lead her into her down fall. 3. What does Chairman Ken Iwamura convey of Japanese men? Chairman Ken Iwamura carries a Japanese men characteristic of being kind and gentleman. Kind in a way that even though she don’t even know the child Chiyo, he gave her a flavoured crashed ice and a coin together with his handkerchief, that inspired Chiyo to become a geisha because she wanted to be with the Chairman. Another is being a gentleman although he knew that Sayuri was a geisha and he loves her he did not take it as an advantage to become Sayuri’s danna. He waited for the right time to reveal his feelings. It also says in the movie that he is the one who asked Mameha to find the girl with blue eyes. 4. Why was the war necessary in the story? The war is...
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...the depiction on women’s right: ‘“…Since moving to New York I’ve learned what the word “geisha” really to most Westerners…”’ (Golden 375) In the novel, the gender exploitation is heavily applied. Women are individuals who are exploited by people, namely the male individuals. They are taken advantage in a sexual aspect. Women also lack freedom and independence in their lives. In addition, women’s needs are not catered and they are not given of any kind of support they needed or deserved. Sayuri once have been treated with great harshness at the geisha house. Memoirs of a Geisha by Golden, Arthur, Golden’s purpose in depicting women’s right is to help women, who are at the same state of Sayuri, in attaining justice. The portrayal of Sayuri’s life leads the researchers to know more about the true life of a Geisha. In the quote above, it is clearly stated how other country treats women differently. The Westerners is one of the best examples that implies the unequal treatment that the geisha’s from Japan gets. This was the author’s purpose for he wants others to understand the importance of respect, one’s life and dignity and the right of every woman to this world since the difference between the classes of living in Japanese culture way back 1930’s has been a source of discrimination and inequality. In addition, Golden wants to clear the misconception and misunderstanding about the image of geisha in the middle of Westerners’ society because...
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...Memoirs of a Geisha Sonya Campbell Douglas McCoy Sociology 11/20/2011 The selected movie is the memoirs of a geisha. I chose this movie due to the nature of the personal relationships defined with in the movie. When looking at the cultural differences in this movie I have observed (even though it was staged in the time of WWII) that the lifestyle and the concept of a geisha actually still exist in today’s society just down played some. Socially the strictness of the Japanese society and their behaviors has been imbedded through centuries upon centuries of heritage. Respect plays a major role in their society, and this carries over throughout the whole collective from menial relationships to family to business to government. Throughout history the Japanese culture has been said to be superior to our own, recognized through their intelligence and their strict standards for organization in business as well as family values. To be Japanese to is to be very proud of your lineage, to be cultured and well bread, even in the movie the geisha had to receive proper training in etiquette and due to her embedded upbringing of trying to be the best that you can be she became a world renowned geisha. This is so very true of the Japanese people of today as well. Educational excellence is very important to them and because of this we will see that they are leading scholars in whatever expertise that they commit to. The Japanese...
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...| Why is it so difficult to be understood? | by | | Herman Jacobs | | Why is it so difficult to be understood? For this essay we were asked to place imagine ourselves as the main character of a short story and then answer a simple question about her motivation. The challenge is that the main character is a Japanese-American woman living more than 50 years ago. The story “Two Deserts” by Valerie Matsumoto tells of Emiko Oyama, a young mother who lives in California’s Imperial Valley. Emiko is married with one daughter. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Emiko was interned during World War Two. This is no doubt one of the two deserts referred to by the story’s title. Emiko also revelas in the story that she has never been to Tokyo, and therefore we assume that she has never been to Japan. Emiko’s relationship with new neighbors is the heart of the story. More to the point Emiko’s relationship with Roy, a retired man who is very pushy, is the story. Emiko suffers Roy and adapts her life to try and discourage him from bothering her, but does not confront him directly. At the end of the story Emiko kills a scorpion and this signals that she has overcome her fears and that Roy won’t bother her any longer. The question is, why doesn’t she confront Roy sooner or in a more direct manner? Can language, culture and gender explain this? One reason Emiko doesn’t confront Roy directly has to do with linguistics, Robin Lakoff wrote about “Women’s Language...
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...class – the Whites, the master- narrative. Racial differences have been used as a basis for racial stereotypes, for instance the White “norm” versus Non-white people. It is clear that racial identity is marked on skin. It is undeniable that some stereotypes do/might have a basis of truth, however such stereotypes do not take into the account of differences among the Orient. It is out of fear and apprehensiveness that lead to the birth of such unjust stereotypes, the film “Memoirs of a Geisha” directed by Rob Marshall highlights the irony of the stereotypes resulting in fragmentations of identity. “Memoirs of a Geisha” (Marshall, 2005) offers an interesting twist to our typical story-telling, the women are no longer silenced, and the story is told through the voice of a woman (though written by a male writer). It highlights the death of the master- narrative, as it highlights the differences among the “other” women, the presence of “Geisha” debukes the stereotype of women as “Angel of Home” perception (diversion of the master-narrative). Identity crisis is a major theme in the film, at first glance, audience is introduced to Sayuri as an innocent 7 year old and seems like...
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...Memoirs Of A Geisha Arthur Golden Chapter one Suppose that you and I were sitting in a quiet room overlooking a gar -1 den, chatting and sipping at our cups of green tea while we talked J about something that had happened a long while ago, and I said to you, "That afternoon when I met so-and-so . . . was the very best afternoon of my life, and also the very worst afternoon." I expect you might put down your teacup and say, "Well, now, which was it? Was it the best or the worst? Because it can't possibly have been both!" Ordinarily I'd have to laugh at myself and agree with you. But the truth is that the afternoon when I met Mr. Tanaka Ichiro really was the best and the worst of my life. He seemed so fascinating to me, even the fish smell on his hands was a kind of perfume. If I had never known him, I'm sure I would not have become a geisha. I wasn't born and raised to be a Kyoto geisha. I wasn't even born in Kyoto. I'm a fisherman's daughter from a little town called Yoroido on the Sea of Japan. In all my life I've never told more than a handful of people anything at all about Yoroido, or about the house in which I grew up, or about my mother and father, or my older sister -and certainly not about how I became a geisha, or what it was like to be one. Most people would much rather carry on with their fantasies that my mother and grandmother were geisha, and that I began my training in dance when I was weaned from the breast, and so on. As a matter of fact, one day many years...
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...lived with her stepmother and stepsisters. She never received the love and care she deserved, her clothes became rags, she lived in attic, and functioned as the servant of the house. She was at her “family’s” demand. Nearly every person is familiar with this story; it is the classic Cinderella story. However, what if it had a slight twist? In the movie, Memoirs of a Geisha, young Japanese girl Chiyo is sold to an okiya. First, she lives as a servant girl where she is victimized. As time goes on, her life changes to one of a Geisha. With the classic Cinderella story as the outline for the movie, Memoirs of a Geisha has a slight twist to the well known plot. With this plot twist comes the exploration of societal gender roles. In her story, Chiyo exhibits multiple different characteristics; most are feminine, some are masculine. According the article by England et al (2011), popular culture adheres to gender norms. Therefore, a female character will exhibit more feminine...
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...Jack Bass A cheating situation occurred with Jack Bass, an accounting professor. Bass had given his students an exam and at the end asked them to identify any test items that had been graded incorrectly by the Scantron machine and submit it to the teaching assistant. After this Bass suspected that some had changed their answers. So, for the next exam, Bass made a copy of the students’ exams and asked them to do the same thing for identifying incorrect answers. After comparison of the copy and the resubmission it was discovered that some had changed their answers. Jack brought the situation to the dean and this resulted in those students withdrawing from the course and receiving sanction letter on their academic file. All the cheaters agreed to this accept one, D.R. Street III. His argument was that he misunderstood the directions and that he should be allowed to withdraw without a sanction letter. When the dean said no he had his father talk with the chancellor and ultimately he was allowed to withdraw without the sanction letter. Entrapment Jack Bass did not entrap his students by withholding the Scantron information from them. Cheating is a serious offence at any academic institution. Regardless of the situation, whether the cheater was caught off guard or not, cheating still occurred. Students are completely aware of the consequences of performing an act of academic dishonesty. They should behave accordingly at all times, that is, be honest about your work. This is...
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...Geishas were considered as entertainers or artists who were trained in various forms of art such as music and dancing (“History of Geisha in Japanese Culture”). Geishas were invited to serve their patrons, mostly wealthy men, at banquets or parties, during meals at a teahouse and other special occasions (Adalid n.p.). Geishas were not courtesans, but were regarded as artisans, thus they were highly coveted by men. The artist cleanly depicts the sexual elegance of a geisha with simpler and minimal detail. Kitagawa successfully incorporated the popular fashions that were common during the Edo period, such as the chinon-like shimada hairstyle, the tiny lip, straight eyebrows and elaborate kimono (“Hairstyles”). Unlike Liu’s sad depiction of a Chinese courtesan, Kitagawa’s geisha exudes confidence and coyness. This is because they were highly regarded in the society and weren’t frowned upon. Overall, the concept is light with a touch of...
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