page_title: Ochaya
section_title: Access
hierarchical_section_title: Ochaya / Access
caption_attribution_description: English: Ichiriki Ochaya in Gion, Japan.
context_page_description: In Japan, an ochaya is an establishment where patrons are entertained by geisha. Ochaya are located in geisha districts, and are today most numerous in Kyoto, though they can be found in geisha districts in other cities, such as Tokyo.
  Ochaya, where geisha entertain, should be distinguished from okiya, where geisha live – these may both be loosely translated as "geisha house." Geisha are attached to a single boarding house, and entertain at various ochaya or other venues from night to night. This arrangement originally developed in the yūkaku, or pleasure quarters, where oiran below the rank of tayū or kōshi could be summoned to entertain guests at ochaya.
context_section_description: Ochaya are typically very exclusive establishments – with very rare exceptions, one may only enter if one is already an established patron, or accompanied by a patron, with reservations.
  Relationships to ochaya can often be traced back generations, and are generally associated with a family or company. Switching ochaya is not generally possible, and even patronizing ochaya other than the one with which one is associated is considered a very serious breach of manners.
  In exceptional circumstances, these restrictions are relaxed. For example, for a brief period of only a few nights in 2006, one ochaya in each of the five Kyoto geisha districts offered general access to a small number of tourists who were unaccompanied by patrons, as part of a tourism promotion program, at the request of the Kyoto City Tourist Association.
caption: Ichiriki Chaya entrance
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