Between Liz Dalby and several ex-geishas there are some good books on
modern geisha. The amount of training they go through is amazing, one
who's book I read started training at age 5 or 6! Now they have to
finish junior high before they can start training full time. If your
running a very late Sengoku period scenario you could have onna Kabuki,
closest you will get to a geisha!
>cepo
>(4) Finally, I believe is a good idea to point out how today's geisha
>(and maiko) are NOT prostitutes, but high-class entertainers. While
>sexual services were a part of their work in the past, they had always
>been different from ordinary prostitutes, for the simple reason that
>geisha are trained in the traditional arts - prostitutes are not.
>Today's geisha are professional musicians and dancers, and testimonial
>of a disappearing past. I know a few of them personally, and I can
>guarantee they're fantastic women, whose lives are dedicated to art -
>not to selling their bodies.
>
>
That's awesome! I've only possibly saw one in the old section of Kyoto
in traditional dress.
Jim