In this Supercurioso article, we are going to talk about geishas that, as you already know, are very well-known figures inside Japan . Their task is quite difficult to explain and sometimes it is not clear what their function is, but basically they are dedicated to entertain or entertain the celebrations of a group of people . If you want to meet 3 famous geishas of the history of Japan , this article is made for you.
Their learning in the arts they carry out, as well as the protocol they use, are very special, so it usually takes them almost twenty years to have the appropriate experience to act as geishas. These apprentices are called maikos . This figure, took its peak during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, so today there are still quite a lot of geishas although in a much smaller number than in the past. As a curious fact, to say that the first geishas that appeared were men. Discover the most famous!
3 Famous Geishas to know | Discover their stories
1. Mineko Iwasaki
Probably, the geisha par excellence is the woman called Mineko Iwasaki . She was born in 1949 in Tokyo and she was said to be the best geisha in Japan until she left very young without revealing her motives. She stood out as a maiko or apprentice, as a great dancer and at the early age of 21 she was already known throughout the city. Such was his fame that he entertained the very queen of England and her son Carlos. But the main reason why Mineko Iwasaki became famous beyond the Asian borders, was due to a book that later adapted to the cinema and that it was titled " Memories of a Geisha " . This book was written by the author Arthur Golden and was a best-seller, since it told stories that only geishas knew.
Mineko Iwasaki did not want her identity revealed, since she had given interviews to the author to help him make the book and feared that his integrity would be threatened because he had broken the sacred vow of silence. After the release of this work, Iwasaki wanted to launch his own biography to disprove some facts that the author published.
2. Kiharu Nakamura
Author of another book similar to the previous one, Kiharu was one of the famous geisha who decided to emigrate from Japan. He was also a protagonist in the world of literature since he wrote a book similar to that of the geisha that we have described previously. She, like Iwasaki, also rubbed shoulders with the most influential people of the time. Actors such as Charles Chaplin or great writers such as Cocteau, were among its renowned clients. Married and divorced with a diplomat, she moved to the Big Apple , place where he wrote his great work telling his adventures. She was a great defender of the Japanese culture , since it was dedicated to advise anyone who asked for advice to take it to the theater or the big screen.
3. Sada Koyama
It came from a family that was once glorious, since many components that formed it had been samurai . Despite their origins, their relatives were ruined and Sada Koyama had to make a living in tea houses since she was very young. The little girl began to be educated as a geisha and enrolled in a famous theater company that stood out in the early twentieth century. So much that he toured Europe, and came to impress intellectuals of the time for their great gifts and intelligence. Thanks to Koyama's company, everything related to Japan in the West became fashionable, so we can say that they were pioneers, who knew how to detect the potential that their culture had as a focus of interest in another continent. As we mentioned before, the repercussion of the geisha was such that even the reporters placed it in all its chronicles. The journalist Lesley Downer, did a great research on her life and took it to a book with the title " Madame Sadayakko " .
As you may have seen after reading the stories of these famous geisha, they were all very powerful women and they had a intelligence out of the ordinary . Some had much more influence even outside their borders. Now, as always, we would love for you to give us your opinion about these exceptional women. Did you know any geisha we talked about before? Were you aware of all the influence these women could have in their culture and in other countries? Which of these famous geisha have you found most inspiring? Have you read any of the works we have commented on in this post? Are you attracted by the Japanese culture and the figure of the geishas that we have described in this article? We would love you to leave us your comments, Feel free to write us!