舞妓　- Maiko

26th March – 弥生

Guess most of the people already have heard the word “舞妓 – Maiko”. But do you know much about this?

Maiko is the girls who work for the 宴会 (Enkai)=party in Kyoto, 五花街(Gokagai). They dance and sing in the party, talk with the customers, pour liquor and so on. Those girls are aged around 15~16 years old and they are in the middle of training to become 芸妓 (Geiko) who are professional of hospitality in Enkai. It takes about 5years to become Geiko.

The only chance to become Maiko is just after graduating the junior high school – at the age of 15~16. The landlord lady at the place called 置屋(Okiya), will test the potential Maiko girls if they can get in or not. If they are successful, they can live in Okiya and landlord will take care of them like a mother.

However, those girls cannot become Maiko straight away. Firstly, they will experience the period called 仕込み (Shikomi), one year training period. Living with mother (=landlord) and sister (older girls at Okiya) and learning how to dance, talk and greet in a particular way in order to be sufficient to become Maiko. Shikomi girls wake up at first in the Okiya and clean up the house, and then they go to sleep at the last after cleaning up the house. Around a year after, when they know the manners and behavior, mother will give a go for them and they can officially become Maiko.

Once they become Maiko, they will be paired up with the older trainees and become sisters. Older sister will teach the younger one. Younger sister will get one letter of the older sister’s name to make her own name.

A month after being Maiko, they will learn many skills like Japanese guitar called 三味線 (Shamisen), Japanese drums, tea ceremony, dancing and singing.

The event places where Maiko serve customers are called 御座敷 (Ozashiki), Japanese style house and those are pretty fancy. Generally Ozashiki opens around 6pm, and customers will enjoy Maiko’s’ singing and dancing, play game with them. One Enkai takes about 2hours and there are no set price. However, customers generally pay around US1,000dollars ~ 2,000dollars per person! It includes food and service, plus some pocket money for each Maiko.

Although it costs a lot to join the Enkai, Maiko actually do not have set salary either. But they can get free accommodation, food, education (learning many different skills,which cost the most!) plus pocket money from mother, around US100 ~ 200dollars so they can grab some snack in the city.

Some extra information, how to tell the difference between Maiko and Geiko on the street. Maiko wear colorful, pattern designed kimono with high heel sandals. Moreover, they tie up their hair and decorate with a lot cute hair ornaments. On the other hand, Geiko wear simple darker colored kimono with no heel sandals. They wear wig without a lot ornaments.