Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/b2044235x THE NIGHTSIDE OF JAPAN By T. Fujimoto. Very fully illustrated in colours and half-tone. Demy 8vo. 7s. 6d. net. This is a book full of interest, combining as it does an account of modern European life in Japan which is still strongly mixed up with the quaint primitive customs of Old Japan. The author is a native of Tokyo, with a knowledge of English, and he describes both town and peasant life with much quaintness and vivacity. The theatres, variety halls, streets and parks — the Yoshiwara and the country life are all described from the Japanese point of view, thus giving the book a very special interest. One great feature of the volume is a number of illustra- tions drawn specially for it by a Japanese artist. The Times, in a long review, said that the author was most successful in suggesting the vital landscape of the country. It congratulates the publishers on allowing the manuscript to be published in the author's own English. "It is not our English, but in its reticences and simplifications it fits what is described as exactly as the Japanese style of drawing fits the national subjects." I A GEISHA GIRL IN HER STANDING FORM. THE STORY OF THE GEISHA GIRL BY T. FUJIMOTO AUTHOR OF "THB NIGHTSIDB OF japan" Illustrations in colour and tone^ specially executed byJapanese Artists. LONDON T. WERNER LAURIE, LTD. 8 ESSEX STREET, STRAND • PREFACE The European gentlemen who visit Japan generally wish to see the geisha, who are very famous throughout the world as a special class of singing and dancing girls. Some of the new visitors, however, seem to misunderstand these girls to be equivalent to those in a lower kind of the female professions. If anybody believes them to be so, he is de- cidedly in a great error; on the contrary, they are a kind of artistes almost indispensable in the society of Japan, if not for ever, at least in the present age. Of course, there may be some exceptional groups among their circles, who are of low character and in base conduct, just as there are exceptions in all classes of human beings. We do not call them the true geisha girls. As the women in the geisha calling are generally young girls, they often talk of love, but there are no young women, throughout the vn« PREFACE upper and lower classes, who do not embrace love in their bosom. We hope the readers of the book would understand the true features of our geisha girls. THE AUTHOR. viii — — CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF GEISHA GIRLS : A.—Down to the Age of the Kamakura Government (A.D. 1300) 1 B.—Down to the Age of the Tokugawa Shogunate (a.d. 1850) ... 14 C.—Down to the Present Time . 23 GEISHA II. TRUE FEATURES OF GIRLS: A.—Dancing Girls 29 B.—Employment of Girls .... 31 C.—Classes of Girls 31 D.—Income of Girls 32 E.—Expenses of Girls ... * 34 F.—Characteristics of Girls 35 G.—Curses and Conjurations ... 38 H.—Spectral Traditions .... 43 III. ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF GIRLS ... 52 IV. A GIRL ROYALIST 6l ix — CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE V. A STORY OF AN OLD WOMAN WELL EX- PERIENCED AS A GEISHA GIRL . .8l VI. TALL TALKS OF AN OLD GEISHA GIRL: — A. —Men liked by Geisha Girls . 9° B. —Men disliked by Geisha Girls . 91 C. — Kinds of the Geisha Spree ... 92 D.— Kinds of Guests classified by Geisha Girls ...... 93 E. —Are Men of What Age most liked by Geisha Girls? 95 F. —The Waiting-House (or the Assigna- tion-House) 98 G. — Learning of Geisha Girls 99 VII. GEISHA GIRLS IN GENERAL. .101 VIII. GLIMPSES OF THE GEISHA CIRCLE AT PRESENT: A.—A Kitten and a Dancing Girl . 106 B. —Sympathy of the Hostess . .110 C. —A Faithful Girl . 115 D.—A Girl and a Millionaire . .121 E. —A School for Geisha Girls and Waitresses . .124 F. —The Geisha Girl's Love observed by a Geisha Girl 126 IX. SHINJU OR THE DOUBLE SUICIDE . .129 APPENDIX I —SONGS 136 CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE APPENDIX II—GIRLS IN LOCAL CITIES AND TOWNS:— 139 A.—Yokohama 141 B.—Nagoya 142 C. — Kyoto 143 D.—Osaka 145 E.—K6b& 149 F.— Miscellaneous Quarters . 153 xi — LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS A GEISHA GIRL IN HER STANDING FORM Frontispiece GIRLS IN PLEASURE-BOATS To face p. 4 A GIRL PLAYING PUPPETS 8 shirabyOshi IN A BOAT .... 12 A GARMENT CALLED SVIKAN AND A HEAD-^ GEAR NAMED TATE'-EBOSHI WORN BY shirabyOshi H a girl in katsugi (overhead garment), ichim&-gasa (hat), and sandals . a garment named kouchigiawd a tsuzuml\ 16 (hand-drum) used by shirabyoshi it a shirabyoshi instruments played by girls : musical x a biwa (lute), a wagon (harp), a so (harp), a shd (flute), and a fu£ (flute), a drum, a kokyb (three- 18 stringed fiddle), and a samisen (three - stringed guitar), a kan's (BELL) THE SHIMADA CHIGNON, A COIFFURE GENER- ALLY WORN BY GEISHA GIRLS — THE BACK VIEW » 20 THE SHIMADA CHIGNON, A COIFFURE GENER- ALLY WORN BY GEISHA GIRLS — THe] SIDE VIEW A HOUSE-BOAT >» 24 A CHOKI BOAT LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS A DANCING GIRL ..... DANCING GIRL PLAYING A TSUZUMI To face (HAND-DRUM) A DANCING GIRL LOOKING ON A HAND-GLASS^ DANCING GIRLS IN KYOTO A DANCING GIRL AND PLUM FLOWERS . A DANCING GIRL WEARING A VEIL . SINGING AND DANCING GIRLS BELONGING TO THE GAY QUARTER OF NIHONBASHI, TOKYO GEISHA GIRLS DISGUISED AS FIREMEN . THE GHOST OF A PRIEST .... AN UMPIRE OF THE KEN GAME i > A RING FOR THE KEN GAME . THREE FORMS OF THE TOHA CHI MORA . SIX FORMS OF THE HONKEN . THE HONKEN IN PLAYING A LOYAL GIRL LOST IN THOUGHT FOR SERIOUS MATTER .... TEA-PICKING AT UJI .... 1 A KAGO OR PALANQUIN FOR A DAIM\ rO\ (feudal LORD) A TSUJI-KAGO OR PUBLIC PALANQUIN FOR CITIZENS A DANCING GIRL WITH A BATTLEDORE AND A SHUTTLECOCK A SINGING GIRL READING A BOOK . A DANCING GIRL IRIS FLOWERS ARRANGED IN A VASE CHRYSANTHEMUM FLOWERS ARRANGED IN f A VASE A FUKAGAWA GIRL WEARING ON A HAOR\ (coat) A DANCING GIRL DRESSED IN A FURISOD& (LONG-SLEEVED garment) A GIRL WEARING ON A GARME T MADE OF KASURI CLOTH .... A PAIR OF AZUMA-GETA, THE CLOGS PUT ON BY THE GIRLS OF YEDO (OLD TOKYO)' xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS A GEISHA SPREE AT THE TOP OF MERRIMENT To face p. 94 SINGING AND DANCING GIRLS ON IOO VERANDA OF A RESTAURANT II A THEATRICAL DANCING BY GEISHA GIRLS A DANCING GIRL TAKING A KITTEN IN HER 1 ARMS II 06 LOVERS IN ELOPEMENT .... A ROOM IN A GEISHA HOUSE . II 112 GEISHA GIRLS UNDER CHERRY FLOWERS ON' 116 THE BANK OF THE RIVER SUMIDA . II GIRLS IN FRONT OF A SHRINE A SINGING GIRL A SINGING GIRL AGAINST A LOOKING-GLASS 122 STAND i> A SINGING GIRL TAKING OFF HER HAORI) A SINGING GIRL WITH A BATTLEDORE . 128 A DANCING GIRL WITH A BATTLEDORE . A DANCING GIRL AND ROSES . A HUMBLE COTTAGE IN MOONLIGHT ON THE BRINK OF THE DOUBLE SUICIDE BY 134 DROWNING THE CHERRY DANCE AT KYOTO II 138 A COPY OF A PICTURE DRAWN BY MORONOBU II 142 A COPY OF A PICTURE DRAWN BY SUKENOBU GIRLS IN TEA" CEREMONY .... »l 146 A COPY OF A PICTURE DRAWN BY TOYOKUNI 152 A COPY OF A PICTURE DRAWN BY UTAMARO XV THE STORY OF THE GEISHA GIRL CHAPTER I ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF GEISHA GIRLS A.—Down to the Age of the Kamakura Govern- ment (a.d. 1300) If we are invited by our friends to a restaurant in a city of Japan and take sake (national wine of Japan) and dishes under the flowery electric lights in a nicely decorated room, we will find some beautiful young girls who attend upon our party. They fill our cup with golden wine, pouring out of a small white porcelain bottle, and sing or dance, accompanied by performance on the samisen (banjo of three strings). These girls are called geisha. If we go to a garden-party of a merchant prince, we will find a great number of finely dressed young girls guiding and helping the ladies and the gentle- men who appear in the garden. When the guests are to take refreshment these girls wait upon them, serving them with any dainties they prefer. The girls are geisha, and their duty is to help the host and the hostess in entertainment of the guests. It is a custom of the Japanese that a class of 1 A THE STORY OF THE GEISHA GIRL young girls under the familiar name of geisha makes their appearance wherever people take dinner or open a meeting in their usual way. So popular and indispensable creatures are they in the social life of Japan. Then what are the duties to be taken by the girls under the class of geisha? A.—Singing, dancing, and musical perfor- mance. These three are the fundamental and pro- fessional business of the geisha girls. The dancing is generally taken by smaller girls ; the singing and the music are done by rather older ones. There are various kinds of songs. The Nagauta, the Tokiwazu, and the Kiyomoto are the most common songs sung among them, and the Utazawa, the Itchu, the Katd Sonohachi, the Ogie, and the y the Utai are the different poems often performed by them. All these songs except the Utai are always accompanied by the corresponding tunes of the samisen. Common musical instruments used by them are flutes, drums, and larger and smaller tsuzumi (drums in shape of an hour-glass and beaten with the right hand), of course the samisen being the most important arm for them at any time.