can non japanese become geisha?

nowadays girlas can only becoma an apprentice geisha(or maiko) after they have left secondary school. To get into an ochaya(teahouse, where they live and are trained) you must be suggested by someone who is already aqquainted with the owner of the ochaya. I myself want to become a geisha with my friend. Liza Dalby( the only american to become a geisha, albeit for a short period of time) is one of my icons , she wrote the book Geisha(i found it very imformative and well written) also Mineko Iwasaki is one of the most famouse Geisha ever and is now 57 i think, she wrote the book Geisha of Gion which i found excellent and very helpful. My mother thinks im crazy wanting to becoma a geisha , she says they live just to pander to men but i know that they are really artists. the word Geisha literally means artist. i hope i have been of some help and am actually visiting Gion this easter. hopefully when i leave middle school i will be able to persue the world of Japanese culture more seriosly. you all have been help to me and for that i say "ookini" (thank you)!

There is an author, Liza Dalby, who was the only westerner to ever become a geisha. She wrote a book called the Tale of Murasaki. (I hope I spelled that right) I've never read it, but it might be of interest to you. Good luck! ^^

If you sit your mind to it you can do anything it's just a lot of training but you might need to go to Japan. Good Luck!!!!

I expect you will let go of this dream in time - after some other movie comes along inspiring you to do something else with your life, as Memoirs of a Geisha inspired you to become Geisha.

It's already been said though, you have to speak Japanese to become a Geisha. Part of being Geisha is entertaining, on a stage and off. You must be able to hold a conversation with dignity and respect. This means, not only must you speak japanese, but very well. You must be able to speak flowery and beautifully in Japanese. It would take you approximately 5 years (at the very least) to master Japanese in the way a Geisha must speak, and even then you will not be as well spoken as true geisha. By this time, you will be approximately 20, which is nearly 10 years older than the average apprentice. You have to become an apprentice, once accepted by maiko, then after many years of training, you move up to maiko, then after many more years of pain, dedication, and, more often than not, loneliness, you, at approximately 30-40 years old will be able to become a true geisha. By then, your talents, unless they are truly amazing, will be of no worth because you are so old.

True apprentices start from a very young age, more often than not. Guaranteed there will be the occasional black sheep, but besides those few, most have no hope. I truly hope you will find another path with a much brighter future.

Love,
Kaity

hi, i have just turned 15 and i also want to become a geisha. i speak a bit of japanese and know a lot of the art of dance, i got a lot of interesting stuff from the books GEISHA: The Secret History Of A Vanishing World, Geisha Of Gion, Geisha by Liza Dalby, Geisha by Alhara Kyoko, Autobiography Of A Geisha by Sayo Masuda, and there are lots of vidios and DVDs out there, but if anyone has any more info about how to become one, please post it!!!

P.S. i am Australian

I have just turned 17 and have been dreaming of becoming a maiko since I was 10. I have also done research and have always wished that I was of Japanese decent, however, I am from America and my family is of Engligh and Scottish background. I have been gradually learning Japanese for years, but I have never been afforded the opportunity to take an actual class in the subject. I am an extremely artistic person and as such this is my reason for wishing to pursue such a career. I plan to attend college in Japan and hopefully perfect my knoledge of the language via immersion. I am aware how hard it is to become Geisha, however, it is my dream. I've heard of Liz Dalby and have also heard that while she did accompany maiko and geisha around to appointments, she has never undergone training to become neither Maiko or Geisha. Which is also discouraging to a redhead with Maiko aspirations, however my fascination with traditional Japanese culture (and specifically Geisha culture) will not be eradicated even if I am not permitted to pursue my dreams. If you find a okiya that will accept you, please email me and tell me all about it! :) I wish you luck in your future!

I considered becoming Geisha, but i decided it wasn't the thing for me. I'm sure you could do it if you really wanted to. Find out about it and then decide if it is really what u want to do. Don't jump to conclusions without thinking them through. Also, you should see if you could talk to a real geisha, and find out what it really is like.

Also, I saw thwe post about your parrents not supporting you. I'm sorry. Find someone who does support you, like a friend or relitive. Everything is easer when someone supports you. =]

hi i am denise, the one who began this topic.
i am glad that lots of people have sent their message and that other girls are interested in geishas.

i am turning 16 this year on september.
becoming a geisha is now a dream,,,far from reality.i wish it would become true....but the circumstances i am in make it very impossible. and my family would neeeever approve 2 it (become a geisha) I don't even think they know what that means. No no,, i am sure they don't.

Malta is so far away from japan and maltese people, or lets say mostly all, don't know about things in japan.

and as i said before, i have absoloutly no support from anyone not even my family. even if i had a support from a friend, would that change anything? no. my parents would still not allow me! cos i am underage. maybe when i was 20.....but i would be too old.....

Do i have any choice?? i think that the last time i sent a message in this forum wa a year ago, and i still think the same.


if anyone want to add me on msn so we could talk more, my e-mail is mad_gurl_d@hotmail.com

thanks! xxx

i saw on the discovery channel and american woman learning the giesha ways and she was about 20 starting out. so it's possible but getting accepted may be abit of a challenge.
i personally would love to learn the ways of a geisha. i doubt it'll happen because i have a family.

One would think that the art of being a Geisha, which many believe is "dying out" according to the very books refered to here, would find ways to be reborn. Especially considering that there is such a desire on the part of some non-Japanese women to become Geisha.

(I'm profoundly embarassed that there is a Russian school having the gall to call itself a geisha school when they focus on absolutely no art and only the basest sensuality and sexuality tricks!)

I am an artist and songwriter (www.Olenka.com) and I have been translating songs from Slavic languages to English, often re-writing lyrics with new rhythms and rhymes so that the arfulness remains. My chorus performs in Slavic-styled costumes but sings in English. In America. (I was born in Poland and raised in New York City.)

It seems to me that this translation can also be done with Geisha language, with songs, with the ornate language of conversation itself, with the games, verbal inuendo, etc., inventing new word-flowers and delictible phrase-gems in English.

An enterprising ochaya would think about this. IF there were an artist available to do the required translating.

If you haven't guessed by now, I am in love with the art of Geisha myself: as we speak my red hair is up in a maiko style. With a rose in it because it's June and all.

Anyway, I've gotten grants for various song and dance-related projects and am investigating possibilities for a new project to focus on for the next couple of years. Plus I really need to get out of Iowa. :)

I other words, if anyone knows if there is an ochaya or contact that would be interested in creating such a venue and possibly a (paid tuition) school for international students who might later travel as a Geisha troupe, I would be so avaialble to take on the translation aspect of such a project that my obi for it is tied in the front.

;)

-Olenka

I also want to be a Geisha when I am older. I am currently learning japanese, "Demo mada jozu ja arimasen". There is a record of a foreigner becoming a Geisha, and she has written a book entitled 'Geisha'. I know that somewhere in Japan there is a place which will dress you like a Geisha; for tourists.
Just some information that may help, or may not.

have you watched a tvdrama
''ma geisha d'Amerique''?

''my geisha from America'' in English but i ignore the real title !

Dear Denise,
I read your comments so you wanna be a geisha ?

becoming a geisha is so nice in my eyes yeah...but i worry if you will waste your time and life for a whim :(
don't be naive about the fact a geisha's life is "wonderful and beautiful' just because
you see its good side on TV,,,
please, think twive before fixing your choice!
a geisha does not have the freedom to do whatever she wants , i read a book that a famous geisha
has written several years ago, she shocked the Japanese people to have said how sad was her life ,
and what they forced her to do
i will not be supporting you because the good reason i don't agree with the idea a woman shall satisfy a man
that she does not know and love, i'm for a 50 50 relationship, i shall regard my gf like my female equivalence ^^
but if you are sure of your choice , than just check about geisha 's life bad sides before.
you can be a geisha for your loved boyfriend or husband as well, hehehe
take care

I'm an african american who's crazy about being a geisha, and for the last four years of my life I've been told that it's impossible for me to become a geisha, seeing as to how i'm 19, and not of japanese decent. But i'm determined to follow my dream, and it's wonderful to see other young people with the same dream who arb't of japanese decent either. It brings a new hope in to the world, that we as a whole, arn't blind to the wonderful thing called culture, a culture that isn't ours. I hope you stick with your dream and don't just find it a fantasy.

Dear Denise,
I have no hope at all. I'm a brittish girl who is eleven and life in brittain but would adore it if I could be a spend aleast some time seeing what it's like to be like those elegant women you see on tv, books, magazines, internet. ect.
I wish thed'd open a japanese tea house here as I would adore it to bits. I've worn a kimono ( a real one) on a guide trip, there tight but feel and look lovely I felt that I was pretty for once. I own a real one too.
I have no hope. I have brown hair, brown eyes and have a tiny bump on my nose. I will never get the part if I had the chance
Hannah
xoxoxox

Liz moved to japan when she was 16 or 19 (can't remember) with her father. She fell in love with the shamisen and started to take lessons because it was an instrument mainly played by the geisha she started studying their traditions and eventually became one. Liz aslo did all of the geisha training for the movie memoirs of a geisha. From the was they walk, to their dancing to playing music. Lesley Downer has also wrote a good book calle "geisha" it speaks of everything from their begining, during the war right up to the present day geisha.

hope it was somewhat helpful and encouraging:)

"Liz aslo did all of the geisha training for the movie memoirs of a geisha."

No, she didn't.
She withdrew from the movie.
It was made by people who knew almost nothing about the culture.

i do not understand some of your desires becoming geisha, it very hard work you have to dedicated your life at a young age to train, the only way to become geisha is either you have to of been a daughter of geisha or get accepted by O-chaya.... but please do something different to uphold your dream of becoming geisha!

Ok,
So there seems to me to be alot of girls out there who want to be accepted into a geisha house.. However considering that it is soo traditionally japanese I doubt that anyone wants to have foreigners in there tea house... With all do respect, people go there to see traditional Japanese girls who can do tradtional japanese things... they dont go there to see foreigners..

AT the same time I think what you all want to do is interesting and would be a great concept in itself... Why dont you go to japan and make a teahouse where you follow the japanese stuff but everyone is a foreigner. And that is the attraction in itself.. You can research alot and then entertain foreign men and be able to explain the aspects of japanese culture to them in english as well as entertain their japanese friends like a native.. A win win interesting situation...

Since there are no samurai anymore most japanese men go to snack bars and soap girls to enjoy entertainment and so most geisha visiting people are either foreign men wanting some traditional entertainment or rich men wanting intellegent, worldly girls to talk to. The idea of the geisha is a good one so I think if you made your own tea house it would be financially sucessful.

You could go there on a working holiday and try make some contacts and then then apply for a working permit to start your business. If this sounds intersting then email me and maybe we can discuss it further and maybe something can eventuate from this growing interest from abroad..
miki_ayla@hotmail.com

I think it is very disheartening to hear Jen say that you have 0% chance. In fact an american woman called Liza Dalby became geisha!