Changes

==History==

==History==

===Edo Period===

===Edo Period===

Though today so strongly associated with being women, the original geisha were all men. It was only in the mid-1700s that female entertainers, already skilled in music and dance, began to emulate the style and operational modes of the male geisha, hiring themselves out as entertainers / entertaining company at private parties in the Yoshiwara and elsewhere. The very first female geisha are said to have emerged in [[1751]], in Kyoto's [[Shimabara (Kyoto)|Shimabara]] pleasure quarters. At first, many dressed like the men, in ''[[haori]]'' overcoats.

Though today so strongly associated with being women, the original geisha were all men. It was only in the mid-1700s that female entertainers, already skilled in music and dance, began to emulate the style and operational modes of the male geisha, hiring themselves out as entertainers / entertaining company at private parties in the Yoshiwara and elsewhere. The very first female geisha are said to have emerged in [[1751]], in Kyoto's [[Shimabara (Kyoto)|Shimabara]] pleasure quarters. At first, many dressed like the men, in ''[[haori]]'' overcoats. The first female geisha in [[Edo]] are said to have emerged in the Fukagawa district, before spreading to the Yoshiwara.<ref>"[http://shunga.honolulumuseum.org/2013/index.php?page=104&language=&maxImageHeight=470&headerTop=0&headerHeight=109&footerTop=579&bw=1366&sh=0&refreshed=refreshed#.VHwTG8mTLqM Tongue in Cheek: Erotic Art in 19th-Century Japan]," Honolulu Museum of Art, exhibition website, accessed 1 Dec 2014.</ref>

Female geisha quickly came to overshadow and overtake the men in popularity, and geisha houses sprang up across [[Edo]] and the other major cities. Geisha contracts were quite similar to those of prostitutes employed at brothels: they were indentured for a set number of years, with a lump sum being paid not to her but to her parents/guardians who signed the contract; the parents were responsible for covering any expenses or losses the girl incurred, including if she committed suicide; the geisha house reserved the power to transfer ownership of her contract to another geisha house, or to allow an individual to buy out her contract and take her as wife or concubine. Most geisha did not engage in sex acts, i.e. prostitution, as part of their work as geisha, but the contracts often allowed for the geisha house to transfer them into the ownership of a brothel, transforming them into prostitutes; further, in some geisha districts, such as the Fukagawa, Yotsuya, and Ryôgoku, many geisha ''did'' engage in prostitution, in order to help them make a living.

Female geisha quickly came to overshadow and overtake the men in popularity, and geisha houses sprang up across Edo and the other major cities. Geisha contracts were quite similar to those of prostitutes employed at brothels: they were indentured for a set number of years, with a lump sum being paid not to her but to her parents/guardians who signed the contract; the parents were responsible for covering any expenses or losses the girl incurred, including if she committed suicide; the geisha house reserved the power to transfer ownership of her contract to another geisha house, or to allow an individual to buy out her contract and take her as wife or concubine. Most geisha did not engage in sex acts, i.e. prostitution, as part of their work as geisha, but the contracts often allowed for the geisha house to transfer them into the ownership of a brothel, transforming them into prostitutes; further, in some geisha districts, such as the Fukagawa, Yotsuya, and Ryôgoku, many geisha ''did'' engage in prostitution, in order to help them make a living.

The shogunate instituted an official geisha register in [[1779]], called the ''geisha [[kenban]]'', and registered all geisha operating in the Yoshiwara that year.

The shogunate instituted an official geisha register in [[1779]], called the ''geisha [[kenban]]'', and registered all geisha operating in the Yoshiwara that year.