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decorated and equipped with a zipper down one side for
quick removal. They went by the name of Neo (from "neon
sign") Panties, and according to the maker they were sold
primarily to mistresses.
He said his purpose was to help women enjoy sex.
"When a patron visits his mistress only once or twice a
month," he explained, "it creates a very pleasant mood if her
 Mistress-Keeping in Japan / 72
'delta area' is decorated with such panties." Then he added:
"It would be interesting to watch a bald-headed man
opening and closing the zipper of his mistress's panties."
 Mistress-Keeping in Japan / 73
Calligraphy: Woman + Bough = Geisha
Some Prefer Geisha
THERE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN several types or cate-
gories of geisha in Japan. Some of these types engaged in
prostitution; others did not. All, however, could become
mistresses, and most if not all of them did so at one time or
another. The profession of the geisha developed in licensed
red-light districts in the latter half of the 1600's for the
purpose of entertaining the courtesans' customers. A
particular geisha's class was determined by her skill, beauty,
location, and luck. The more unskilled and unattractive a
geisha, the more likely it was for her to resort to or be forced
into prostitution.
With the deterioration of the large, elaborate licensed
quarters after the downfall of the Tokugawa regime in 1868,
the social status of professional prostitutes began to drop
and that of geisha to rise. Within a few decades their
positions were completely reversed. Geisha were the most
elite of "public" women, and prostitutes were the lowest.
 Mistress-Keeping in Japan / 74
Well-to-do businessmen and politicians began vying with
each other to make the most famous geisha their mistresses.
Perhaps the most celebrated example of a well- known
personality pursuing a geisha had its beginning in the city of
Shimonoseki in the 1860's. The city's leading gay quarter
was a favorite playground for several of Japan's most daring
young revolutionaries, who were then plotting to overthrow
the feudal Tokugawa government. Among these revolu-
tionaries was a man named Ito. His favorite house of
recreation was the Hayashiya, which was presided over by a
well-known madam named Toku.
Like all of the young men who frequented the Hayashiya,
Ito had his regular courtesan. Then he broke the rules by
taking up with a geisha named Ume, who was the mistress
of a merchant.
One night Ito's courtesan caught him and Ume in a com-
promising situation and immediately reported him to the
council of elders responsible for handling such breaches of
conduct. A famous gang boss of the period tried to persuade
the courtesan to forgive Ito and the geisha, but she was
adamant.
According to the code of the gay quarters, the only way
Ito could redeem himself was to buy his freedom from the
courtesan and buy the geisha from her employer. This
involved a considerable sum of money, which was finally
given to Ito by Toku, the madam of the Hayashiya.
Ito then married the geisha, went on with his revolu-
tionary activities, and eventually became one of Japan's
outstanding prime ministers and the foremost statesman of
the Meiji era known to the world as Prince Hirobumi Ito.
Just prior to and during the Pacific War the long, severe
training traditionally required to turn out a first-class geisha
became impractical and then impossible. Most geisha
houses were eventually banned altogether. After the war
ended, the old standard of training was watered down, and
young girls no longer served apprenticeships of six to ten
years in order to become licensed geisha. The old relation-
 Mistress-Keeping in Japan / 75
ship between geisha and master based on the geisha being
sold to the master and always being in debt to him also
failed to survive the war.
Modern-day geisha act more or less as independent
businesswomen. The higher-class ones may belong to a
union or guild. They may operate out of a geisha house,
going to restaurants or inns to do their entertaining; or they
live in an ordinary house or apartment like any working girl.
If they live in a so-called geisha house, they pay the
proprietor a fixed amount of money for their room and
board and for being listed on the roster of geisha available
from the establishment.
No one knows how many geisha there are in Japan or
in Tokyo, for that matter. As of the 1970s, the Tokyo
Metropolitan Police Bureau estimated that there were
between fifty and sixty recognized geisha associations in
the city, with a total of four or five thousand geisha. A
census taken several years earlier revealed that there were
2,200 teahouse-restaurants featuring geisha.
About half of these girls worked out of geisha houses.
About one-fourth of them are employed full time in specific
ryotei (Japanese-style restaurant-inns). In addition to this
large group there were several thousand other girls who
dressed in kimono and passed themselves off as geisha,
especially to the tourist trade. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]