Maiko putting on makeup in Kyoto, Japan

[heartzempire]

I'm not Japanese,but I would love to become a geisha someday.I saw a picture of a maiko when I was younger and I told myself I wanted to be like her.I know it will take loads of training. But it appears to be worth it.I don't know if it would be possible for me to become a geisha,but I would like to try.

[dbsklover88]

can you even become a geisha if your not asian?

[Knoblauchwesen]

no

if you're not asian your head will explode if you try out the stuff they teach you

also you turn into a monkey and a flying seal comes flattening down your house

[dbsklover88]

@Knoblauchwesen hahaahhaahah sweet good thing im asian then lol

[shazam15]

@Knoblauchwesen

hahahahaha.

[GiRlover89]

i'm jealous of her beauty

[amasayspfft]

only when they are maikos

[ihalah]

Geishas do their own make-up.

[thecharlotteness]

(Please correct me if I'm wrong) But I think Maiko have help as their still "children".

[millamus]

yes both geisha and maiko have their own make-up. however this is a misedashi ceremony, so the okiya will call in a special make-up artist to do her make-up, so that she will be presentable as her first day as maiko. also her oneesan will teach and help her, to do her make-up right. when the oneesan feels that the maiko has "mastered" the make-up,she will stop helping her. and the maiko will most likely find her own ways to do her special look.

[thecharlotteness]

Wow... 7 months since I wrote that last comment xD. I didn't know anything back then! You're right about the Misedashi, I remember watching a doccumentary called Geisha Girl (somebody's uploaded it on here as Becoming a Geisha, where the Maiko Kikuyu had her Misedashi, and a make-up artist came in. ^^

[pickleschocolate1]

I think Geisha's are like really fasinating models! I like how they just dont go up and down the aisle like a catwalk model...i like these models because they move around and dance! My godmother sent me an email about geisha's in china wearing shoes that cut right in the middle of their feet...they even showed proof! It wuz kinda scary but yeah. I luv geisha's and i just fell in luv with them recently..i think they are fascinating..lol sry i keep saying they are cool....they just are so yeah.

[tallblondnloud]

yeah i saw that before

[picatsoforfma]

Have you read Memoirs of a Geisha? Some stuff in there were made up. Golden is a great author, I still need to read the last few chapters, but even Chiyo/Sayuri didn't talk to him, if she even existed at all. And Japan has become very modern and would not allow that to happen anymore no matter how much tradition means to them. I saw this documentry on YouTube. Look up Becoming a Geisha 1(2005) in the search box and you should find it.

[dancintikki2007]

I have a question for anyone that is an asian living in Japan? If you wanted to become a Geiko or rather first you would be a Maiko, is it hard to enter into that society of community?

[ashie20]

it's something you're born into- you don't just choose to do it one day.

[mIsSJeSTR]

Actually Maiko-san choose this path on their own. They are never forced into this life because it is an actual job with status.

[DarkOnyx98]

@mIsSJeSTR thats how it is now.. but when they first came around in the past they were sold by their families into this life. some rules in the past are still the same but some have changed over the course of the years. Now, they can choose to study in becoming a maiko and geiko..

[ladychristabel]

@ashie20 Actually, yes you do. Geisha isn't a social class, it's a profession. The women who do it have to work extremely hard to become geisha but it is a choice.

[shishie4811]

Im not asian but i know what you would have to do.

1) get in contact with an okiya

2) send in a resume to the okiya and send in a photo of your whole body.

3)if they accept you they have to meet your parents and your parents have to agree.

4) your shikomi san period begins.

[escaramuzaml]

@shishie4811 this probably sounds stupid but. do u have to be asain? :(

[CountessKitty18]

@escaramuzaml You do.. it's pretty much impossible if you're not

however... there was an American who become a Geisha for a year or so though.. Liza dalby, but she was very lucky, knew Japanese and was musically skilled. the door to the Geisha world is gently but firmly shut.. such a mystery but i suppose that is part of the appeal..

[millamus]

there is different opinions of that system ever existed or not.people that have read or seen memoirs of a geisha, often get that image, athur golden's book were poorly researched( but is good fiction). it is certainly not practice today or might never have been. and i qoute mineko" This again goes back to the separation between the pleasure quarter and the entertainment quarter. Mizuage is really a coming-of-age ceremony...

continuing on next post ^^

[millamus]

there is different opinions of that system ever existed or not.people that have read or seen memoirs of a geisha, often get that image, athur golden's book were poorly researched( but is good fiction). it is certainly not practice today or might never have been. and i quote mineko" This again goes back to the separation between the pleasure quarter and the entertainment quarter. Mizuage is really a coming-of-age ceremony, and apparently there was some...

continuing on next post ^^

[velvetyblackroses]

im asian and i want to be a geisha but i swear to god they look so creepy in the middle of the night

[boomminimanboom]

.........

[xredtearsx]

well it's weird but i wanna b a geisha 2 LOL....but i'm not asian...:S

[Sorenji]

when I was little.. I always wanted to be a geisha.. and now.. I'm learning it.. so that makes me a Maiko =).. but it's not as fun as it look like.. x'D

*btw.. I'm 25% Asian*

[reusdoil]

haha I am the second to comment i love it too,and i think geishas are so beautiful.When i grow up,i wanna be a geisha!!!!!!!!!!I'm asian..

[xcuppiixcakex]

its not something you grow up into lol

[thisisme47]

haha i am the first to comment i loved it

geishas are the best