Geisha (TCG)

Geisha, meaning "artful person", Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 121 were Rokugani women, and very occasionally men, who were paid to entertain. They were members of the hinin caste. Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 11 Female geisha were called onna geisha, and male geisha were called otoko geisha. Whispers of Shadow and Steel, by Mari Murdock Okiya were the geisha houses. Path of Waves, p. 44
== Training ==
Geisha underwent a grueling training process that takes years. Geisha were skilled at engaging samurai in conversation and in offering performances including signing, reciting poetry, dancing, and playing musical instruments. Beginners must perform to exacting standards before achieving the title of apprentice geisha, much less true geisha. Those who succeeded used to obtain the patronage of powerful samurai, who benefited from the prestige associated with their skilled vassal. Contrary to certain gaijin misconceptions, geisha were not courtesans. 
== Entertainers ==
A samurai might fully relax around them with no social stigma. The stress of maintaining one face's could and would wear on even the most stoic of samurai. In the company of a geisha, under the strains of music, a samurai might laugh, or complain about their lord and family, or cry at their lot in life. Since the geisha was not considered a person, there was no shame in showing open emotion, any more than when one was completely alone. 
== Children ==
Some samurai become enamored of particular geisha, and it was not unheard of for children to result from the union of a samurai and a geisha. In most cases, such offspring went unacknowledged by the samurai in question and grew up as hinin themselves. There were some samurai who might choose to acknowledge or even adopt the child, or arrange for the child to be adopted by others. In a few instances, the child might even be raised as a samurai-a dangerous secret indeed. 
== Spying ==
Some geisha gained the trust of their samurai clients and took advantage of this trust to learn their clients' secrets, which then became fodder for espionage and blackmail. A few were even cultivated for this very purpose, particularly by the Scorpion Clan. 
== External Links ==
* Acclaimed Geisha House (Clan War)
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Category:Rokugani Language (TCG)