Memoirs Of A Geisha
        Movie & Book Bringing In A New Look

Arthur Golden's first novel Memoirs of a Geisha have brought a movie forth to be released December 2005.

The book and movie tells the story of a young girl sold into Geisha training in Japan. What is often misunderstood by westerners is the definition of Geisha. The word "geisha" does not mean "prostitute;" the word geisha itself literally means "person of the arts."

The earliest geisha were men, and it is as performers of dance, music and poetry that they actually spend most of their working time. Geisha's are high class of entertainers educated on a wide variety of topics from history to finances. Geisha's are trained in dance, Ikebana, calligraphy and much more with such strict training in etiquette.

For many years people have been fascinated with the Japanese geisha from geisha make up, geisha costumes and geisha wigs to their geisha Dancing, and many other other talents. Thus, with the release of the movie in December, stores such as Banana Republic ®, Bath & Body ® and others are providing apparel and products that compliment that Japanese look as well as sweepstakes that allow customers to compete for a chance to win shopping sprees and attend the premier, etc. It will certainly be a time when more people become interested in learning about the geisha life style from how to apply geisha make up (Where to find Geisha Make up) and much more.

How Did Women Become A Geisha?

To become a geisha, you had to be the daughter of a geisha or accepted by an O-chaya. Usually beautiful little girls who were orphaned or from poverty stricken families were sold to an O-chaya by relatives. The O-chaya would invest a lot of money to train these girls and dress them in brightly colored kimonos.

In the O-chaya, the okamisan ("mother" who runs the house) taught the girls. They performed various chores while observing the geisha. When they reach a certain level, the girls become "Maikos" (15-20 year old girls) which are apprentices to geisha. A maiko accompanies a geisha on her appointments to learn and become accustomed to the job. Usually at the age of 20, a maiko girl decides if she is going to become a geisha.

If she gets married she must quit. The initiation ceremony is called "erigae" and means "changes of collars". At one time this was when the collar of a maiko changed from red to white. Also, this was when a geisha girl underwent mizu-age, a ceremony that revolved around the girls losing her virginity to the "highest bidder." In some situations Geisha's were similar to Courtesan.

For a woman thinking of moving to Japan to try it out, there really is 0% chance of becoming a geisha if you are not of Japanese decent or extremely skilled in various arts of the geisha.

To see what the upcoming Memoir of a Geisha movie will be like you can view the Memoir of a Geisha trailer.