Los Angeles herald., 1905-03-05
GETSHA GIRLS
OF JAPAN
SPLENDID butterfly, whose pro-

which might be called poems made
visible, to entertain guests with prac-
ticed wit and grace, and even TO turn
the scale of large business transactions
by the keenness of her tongue and the
seductiveness of her manner-this is
the geisha at her best. Strictly speak
ing the dancers are called mako and
those who pipe to them are geisha,
yet both are often included under the
name geisha.
1t Is quite a mistake to suppose that
the gelsha corresponds with the demi-
mondaine of America or the soubrette
of France. She is purely Japanese
production, and her like is not found
elsewhere. She is unique. In the first
place, she is carefully taught her pro-
fession in regular geisha training
school. In Kyoto, the home of the
cherry dance, there is an academy for
the instruction of mako and geisha,
and any traveller may visit this school
after obtaining a letter of introduction
from some well-known person.
Here the girls from the age of six
or seven are taught the arts of danc-
ing and of inventing dances, of playing
all the musical instruments used in the
dance, of making honorable tea in
the strictest ceremonial fashion, of
dressing, of tying the obi, of arranging
the hair and in addition are instructed
in all those branches which have made
them, up till almost the present day.
the most highly educated and wittiest
class of women in Japan.
In Osaka, which, by the way, has a
theater street mile long and is noted
for it's beautiful geisha, a merchant
who Is a large exporter to the Unietd !,
States told me that nearly all the inn
portant business transactions in that
place were carried to a conclusion by
the gesha girls; and he stated posi-
lively that no one could prosper stead
| lily in business without the help of a
geisha, while 1t was fatal policy 20
antagonize one of them. He said that
most of the large trades and deals were
put through after ten at night. For
instance, when he wished to buy a
large consignment of goods for expor-
tation he would invite his man to tea
house and engage the prettiest and
wittiest geisha he could afford to do
the honors.
After exchanges sof sociability. and
when all were in good humor the sub
ject in hand would be introduced, the
geisha, who must be posted and up to
date on all the topics of the day. put
ting in telling word for him here and
there. Her charm would often turn
the affair. to his advantage and the
lightness of her wit would make heavy
his pockets.
If a man thinks he can get along
without those dainty manipulators of
the wheel of fortune he soon finds, that
things are going wrong with him, and
he begins to feel d respect for the
power of the geisha, Then, again, the
japanese has both natural and cul-
tivated love for splendid color schemes.
rich embroideries and exquisite tex
lures. But for himself or his family
to display these upon their own persons
he would consider bad taste, or even
vulgar. Splendid apparel that attracts
the public gaze is for public person
ages, such as royalties, the priests, and
last, but most snowy of all, the geisha,
at whose performances the Japanese
may crafty his taste for splendor and
the spectacular.
Americans and other foreigners soon
learn this, and many richly embroid-
cred robe that has adorned some lovely
painted lady" in the geisha dance is
bought for a song and carried over seas
to strange lands, where it is wondered
at and praised, not, as originally, for
being a single part of a great color
scheme, but as a remarkable piece of
embroidery and an enviable possession.
She herself may belong to a rich and
prominent family, and she does not
necessarily lose caste by becoming a
professional geisha; ON the contrary.
she often makes most brilliant mar
riage. And apropos of this, the recent
marriage of beautiful geisha of Japan
with the son of a millionaire OF
our own country is extremely unpopu-
lar in Japan, 1t is said, where it is con-
sidered that, far from gaining, she dis
tinctly lost by the alliance.
A lady does not play upon the must-
cal instrument css.,ed the samsen. The
koto is for her. She leaves the sani-
sen to the gelsha, and so on through
a long list. But this dividing line be-
tween lady and geisha is not as be-
tween responsibility and that which is
not respectable, but as between the
strictly guarded private life of the
Japanese as 1t is preserved in the FAM
lily and the necessarily public life OF a
professional woman who entertains for
money.
So much then to set right an erron-
eous idea current in this country tina.
the geisha is one of those poor Great
ures who sit in those cage like latticed
houses on certain streets waiting to be
hired by any passer-by, or that at best
she is a sort of soubrette or perhaps
even an Aspasia. No, whether you
see this graceful and gentle little