History The first performers that resembled geisha in the recorded history of Japan, were called saburuko (Szczepanski, 2014). This Japanese performer’s name is translated into “those who serve”. The saburuko’s main tasks were to wait on tables, make conversation, and entertain, which sometimes was by selling sexual favors (Szczepanski, 2014). Saburuko of the higher-class danced and entertained at elite social events. Ordinary saburuko entertainers were often daughters of families left poor in the social and political disturbances of the seventh century, historians call this time of commotion the period of the Taika Reform (Szczepanski, 2014). In the 16th century, after the end of the Sengoku period of chaos, several major Japanese cities …show more content…
The next generation of female entertainers became highly skilled in dancing, singing and playing musical instruments, such as the flute and shamisen (Japanese Geisha, n.d.). These geisha did not rely on selling sexual favors to keep a steady income. All geisha began to be trained in the art of conversation and flirting (Szczepanski, 2014). The most prized geisha were ones with an advanced talent for calligraphy, or the individuals that could improvise poetry that included hidden layers of meaning on the spot (Szczepanski, 2014). Japanese history records that the first “self-styled” geisha appeared around 1750 (Szczepanski, 2014). This geisha was Kikuya, who was considered a talented shamisen player and worked as a prostitute in Fukagawa. During the late 1700s and early 1800s, many residents of the pleasure quarters started to become talented muscisans, dancers, or poets, rather than simple sex workers (Szczepanski, …show more content…
The geisha did not disappear when the shogunate (government controlled by shoguns) fell, regardless of the ending of the samurai class (The definition of a shogunate, n.d.). It was during World War II that the geisha culture received a blow to the profession; most young men were expected to work in factories to support the war effort, thus leaving fewer Japanese teahouse and bar patrons (Szczepanski, 2014). Even though the popular days of the geisha profession was short, it is still an occupation today (Szczepanski, 2014). The traditional maiko, also known as an apprentice geisha, began the traditional training at age 6, but today these Japanese students are required to stay in school through the age of 15. Thus causing Kyoto girls to begin training at 16, and girls in Tokyo most often wait until they reach the age of 18 (Szczepanski,
Japan lasted from 1185-1603. During that time Japan had emperors, shoguns, daimyos, samurai, and peasants who were all apart of a social class, and all together it was called the Samurai Society. The emperor was just a figurehead for the shogun. The shogun was a powerful military leader that ruled in the emperor’s name. Daimyo were powerful landlords. The daimyo often led armies of samurai. These samurai were trained professional warriors who served daimyo and shoguns. The samurai had to follow a certain code of rules for samurai called Bushido. One of their rules included to always have self-discipline to become a good samurai. The samurai warriors wore light armor, helmets (usually shaped like an animal), and had two swords around their waist. Their armor had a lot of detail and color to it, like their unique helmets. After the samurai comes the peasants, which included farmers and fishermen. They usually always work, then pay takes to the shogun. They usually gave the shogun what they earned from working like food or crops. What made their jobs a bit difficult was their topography. Japan’s topography included many mountains, undersea volcanoes, and barely any flat land to farm on. The Japanese didn’t only work they also practiced their religion. For example, they practiced Confucianism, Buddhism (...
Musui’s Story is the exciting tale of a low class samurai’s life towards the end of the Tokugawa era. Although one would normally imagine a samurai to be a noble illustrious figure, Musui’s Story portrays the rather ignominious life of an unemployed samurai. Nonetheless, this primary account demonstrates the tenacity of samurai values and privileges present at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. The social status of samurai had been elevated to such a state that even someone like Musui was easily able to gain influence in everyday affairs with his privileges. Not only that, but he had retained his values as a warrior and still kept great pride for his arts in weaponry.
This became the era of the shogun empire and was the beginning of a new duel government in
Kabuki theatre has a very long and rich history. It began in the 1600s, around the same time that the American colonies were being founded. A Japanese shrine maiden, Okuni, is credited with creating Kabuki theatre. In its earliest form, Kabuki consisted of large ensemble dances performed by women. Many of these women were prostitutes off stage. Due to the fame and fan base that these prostitutes acquired because of Kabuki, the government in this time banned women from performing onstage. This was done in an effort to protect the public’s morality against what was seen as a form of lewd entertainment (Kabuki History, 1996). After women, the main characters in Kabuki programs, were banned from performing on the stage, men stepped in to continue the Kabuki productions. This change in characters brought about a very important shift in Kabuki. No longer was the focus on beauty and dance. What became important was the skill of the actors, and the drama that they portrayed. This put Kabuki on the road to becoming a dramatic art form, rather than a show of dancing with beautiful women. At the same time, there was a renaissance happening in Japan, which promoted and encouraged arts and culture. This is known as the Genroku period.
Throughout History, there have been many different groups or events that are still widely known today. Groups of people such as the Indians or Vikings are popular groups which are referenced constantly in today’s society. However, none of these groups is more known or referenced than the Japanese Samurai. Originating in 646 AD, these Japanese warriors developed from a loose organization of farmers to the dominant social class in Feudal Japan. Along with their dominant military and political standing, the samurai brought with them a unique code or moral belief that became the core of Samurai culture. Because of this, the Samurai and their principles still affect modern day Japanese society with social customs today deriving directly and indirectly from the beliefs of the Samurai.
In the early nineteenth century there was a trend toward portraying all types of evil—such as torture, incest, and sadism—on stage, and after the Meiji Restoration of 1868 a movement was started to adapt Kabuki to the spirit of the modern world. Be that as it may, even as Kabuki has created in style and substance, it holds a hefty portion of the components it obtained amid the 1700s, from the physical virtuosity of its performers to the utilization of beautiful ensembles and portrayal of shocking occasions. Because of the emphasis in Kabuki on performance, there is little interest among scholars in offering critical analyses of its most important plays; many feel, in fact, that to read a Kabuki play in print gives the reader no indication of its artistic power. Pundits writing in English about seventeenth-and eighteenth-century Kabuki have in this manner tended to focus on the social and chronicled setting encompassing the improvement of the shape or on imaginative components, for example, acting, organize procedures, and music. The Kabuki play that has garnered the most critical attention is Chūsingura (1748; The Treasury of the Loyal Retainers). This play, about retainers' loyalty to a feudal lord even beyond his death, contains all the elements that make for great, melodramatic Kabuki theater,
Sugita Kojo of Tayama Katai’s “The Girl Watcher” (1907) and the chair maker in Edogawa Rampo’s “The Human Chair” (1925) react to new ways of life in a similar, vulgar manner. Both stories include aspects of society new to that time: Trains and chairs, respectively. These pieces from the Meiji & Taisho period, a period where stories began to express the character’s thoughts, depict the importance of understanding novel and foreign aspects of daily life by showing how these modern ways of living may be used inappropriately.
The geisha of Japan were more than entertainers they were a part of the bigger picture of the Japanese society from the early 1600s to today, their role as an entertainer for men was respected at a point in which man that had time with geisha were praised and they were even respected by the wives of the clients. One of the most significant historical contexts of geisha in Japanese society is the empowerment of women, they were the only women in the history to create a set of norms and social tradition for themselves, and the group of women to have control of men. Geisha are the representation of Japanese tradition and
...tween lovers. Women were mild, yielding, and soft, and men were emotional, diligent and passionate in character. Both men and women of high class seemed to have been educated in the musical arts, particularly in playing the koto, and the art of dance. Essentially, Murasaki Shikibu's depiction of Heian court life in Genji Monogatari was one of distinction, elegance, aesthetic appreciation, literacy, passion, and emotion, most highly exemplified in ideal male form by Prince Genji, and in ideal female form by Fujitsubo. These two characters present the most accurate representations of model Heian court nobles, and truly illustrate to readers not only the beauty present in the Heian court, but of the flaws and trials present as well, presenting a wonderful contrast to the ideal views of men and women in modern Western society, and insight into ancient Japanese culture.
In Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha, Sayuri demonstrates that when the forces of fate and free will come into collision, the lack of determination to grasp control of one’s life will lead to a
The Kamakura period started in about 1185 to 1333. It was under the rule of the family of Minamoto with the head of that family being Minamoto Yoritomo. Yoritomo declared himself to be the first supreme samurai or Shogun as it was known and the government was formalized and called a shogunate. The Shogun was essentially the military leader of all of Japan who even has more power than the emperor. The Minamoto family set up the new government in Kamakura, which gave this period its name. They were able to set up this new form of government and replace the former one due to the fact that they exercised power quickly thanks to their samurai which roamed the land, exercising their shoguns orders.
Eventually the Edo society (created by Leyasu) became a very well known and stylistic development in Japanese art. Edo was known as Tokyo in the late eighteenth century and it was
In time the Imperial Court grew weaker resulting in the growth of power in the local governors. The three main clans of the Samurai were: the Minamoto, the Fujiwara, and the Taira. Between the 9th and 12th A.D. centuries, the samurai became a class of their own. Two names they were referred to was either Samurai, which is their most common name, or Bushi, meaning warriors.
With the fall of the Aristocracies during the Heian period, the first establishment of a Shogunate system was created. The Kamakura Era of Japan “takes its name from the garrison town of Kamakura on Sagami Bay in central Honshu, not far from modern Tokyo.” (Colcutt). The Kamakura Era lasted from 1192 until 1333 C.E. and began what is referred to as Japan’s 700 year medieval period. This era defined the foundation of the hierarchical Shogunate system and the role of the legendary samurai warriors. Founded by Minamoto no Yoritomo, the Samurai were part of the warrior government system known as Bakufu. This historically famous system was established after the Genpei War. “The war between [the] Minamoto... and Taira
Kabuki started out as a style of dance in the early sixteenth century, also known as the Edo period. Kabuki is an exclusive type of theater in which only males can act on stage. For over 400 years, women have only been allowed in the audience and not on stage. But ironically, a woman named Izumo Okuni along with her female troupe originally created the theatre. Okuni, who may have come from the shrine of Izumo, set up a temporary stage in Kyoto around 1603 where she and her troupe acted out slightly suggestive dances and skits (www.artelino.com).