" In this sense, the geisha business has nothing to do with the paid sex business and, as previously stated, may only come as geisha's personal choice. Geisha should be first viewed as an artist and performer, someone who trains the entire life into committing to artistic entertainment, much like kabuki artists, for example. However, given the ambiguous status often related to them, one can often wonder to what degree prostitution also intervenes in the business.
It is also interesting to refer to the relationship to Japanese wives. Again, we previously need to refer to some of the characteristics of Japanese society. Until not so long ago, the main role of the Japanese wife was to take care of the household, everything ranging from raising the children to taking care of the family's finances. Their mission was not to entertain, but to manage. From this point-of-view, this is where the geishas intervened. They offered the husbands the possibility to have wistful conversation, while spending time with their friends and co-workers.
In my opinion, transparent also from the pages of Liza Galby's book, the role of the geishas as related to Japanese wives is a complementary one. A geisha offers the opportunity for the Japanese husbands to have a relationship with women outside the marriage, without this necessarily referring to sex, but rather to time spent with another woman other than the wife. It gives the possibility for husbands to talk to geishas about their problems, to have witty conversation etc. Similarly, many bars in Tokyo and Japan nowadays have evolved towards this form of entertainment.
We are bound to ask ourselves whether the complementary role that geishas play nowadays in the Japanese society is not a mutation, whether they are not filling in a role that the wives should be playing. Again, we should note the many contradictions that make up Japan and the people in Japan. Certainly, from the parallel relationship between...
Nevertheless, it also come from the habits of spending free time that the Japanese male has formed over the years. As such, according to the importance awarded to each, the relationship with the firm he works in and, in this sense, with his co-workers, is often deemed to be more important than the relationship with this family. Work (especially with the life employment policies that many Japanese companies have been using over the years, up to the very last years) is the most important element of a Japanese person's existence and it comes naturally that any free time will be spent around elements present at work: the boss, the colleagues etc. From this to any form of entertainment, including geishas, comes only a small step.
In this sense, even if controversial, the role of geishas in Japanese society cannot be denied, and we may summarize by saying that the geishas definitely fill a spot in Japanese society. As companions, as lovers in some cases, as performers and, in many cases, as talented artists, geishas are an icon of Japan ever since their apparition in the 21st century. Liza Dalby's book helps bring a new light on geisha practices, on their training and personal experience, as evoked in several chapters of the book by some of the members of the geisha community.
Bibliography
1. http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showthread.php?t=6738& page=6& pp=15
2. Liza Dalby's Geisha. Comment on the book at http://www.lizadalby.com/
3. Geisha by Liza Dalby -- book report at http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/2232134/perfect-circle/book_-Geisha-Liza-Dalby
On the Internet at http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showthread.php?t=6738& page=6& pp=15
Ibid.
