Geisha Culture

its social reservation and extremely long work week, a geisha party is a place where the men cannot abide by social convention and not fear any repercussions (Layton, 2005).
The most popular geisha districts in Japan called hanamachi, or "flower towns" (Layton, 2005). These successful districts can be found in Kyoto and Tokyo. The teahouses, known to the Japanese as o-chaya, inns known as ryokan and restaurants known as ryotei are where geisha entertain customers are most often found in these businesses (Layton, 2005) .
Geisha Names
After a girl becomes an apprentice to a geisha, or maiko, she will choose a name different than the one she was given when she was born (Hays, 2013). This professional name is called a “geimei” or “artistic

Geisha pass on their names to the younger generations, only with a twist. Each name in the geisha culture will show that individual’s lineage. Each of the girls that becomes a geisha will have an experienced geisha teaching them the needed social skills among other things. This training geisha also helps the geisha in training to enter a needed teahouse, or a hanamachi (Hays, 2013). This training geisha also helps to launch the younger geisha into society (Hays, 2013). Once the girl that wants to go into the geisha business starts to be trained by an experienced geisha, the girl will take a part of the geisha’s name and use it in her own artistic name. For example, a geisha that takes a part of her training geisha’s name might have a

In the history of geisha, individuals that retired from the trade only to come back would take new names. These new names were not always based off of another geisha (Hays, 2013). Geisha that moved between teahouses and okiya would often change their names as well. In the more recent past history of geisha, some women debuted into society alone (Hays, 2013). If a geisha joined a different okiya and did not have a training geisha to help choose a name, she would adopt an element from one of the famous geisha from the okiya. Thus resulting in geisha with different names and no older sisters (Hays,