Life Of A Geisha Research Paper

A geisha is a traditional Japanese entertainer known to be an actor and prostitute. The word geisha in English means artists, as geishas had to master many types of fine arts while training. They performed erotic performances called kabuku, which also became the start of the kabuku theater. Around 1760 women started to overpower men in the career of a geisha. Their most distinguishing feature is their white faces which is the Japanese culture is associated with beauty. In 1941 Japan got involved in World War II,which had a negative effect on its citizens and economy. This essay will discuss a geisha’s life before and after war and why certain changes occured.

Before the war life for a geisha was “very structured”. Geishas had a strict ranking

This created conflict between the US and Japan, which later resulted in the nuclear bombing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These bombings and the war have had a great impact on the Japanese society, killing many innocent lives as well as releasing nuclear gas into the atmosphere. This caused a hindrance in the Japanese society, which led them to surrender on August 15, 1945. Post-war era Japan consisted of US forces coming and living along the Japanese people, westernizing the nation and the reconstruction of cities and places that were destroyed by the US bombings. World War II brought many negative changes in the lives of geishas. During the war in 1944 all teahouses and hanamachis were all forced to shut down. The main reason for the shut down was the lack of resources along with the lack of business. While they were closed, geishas worked in factories to replace the shortage of labour caused by the men that have gone out to fight for Japan. A year later, closer to the time that Japan surrendered the hanamachis and teahouses were allowed to reopen. Many geishas did not return and stayed at their jobs in the factories. The few that did return wanted to unhold the “image of the geisha” to what it was before the war started. But this turned out to be difficult. With the modernization of Japan, and western views shaping the ways the Japanese thought of their society a feminist wave arose. Many women demanded to being treated as a human rather than sex object, and wanted to have control over their own bodies. Before war women were expected to bow to every men, including the husband, father, and parent-in-law and were always considered inferior in their household. Another major change in post-war Japan was the large number of US soldiers which started living in Japan. The American soldiers associated geishas as prostitutes, which brought upon a dark light on geishas. The misunderstanding of