Since the Bunkwa and Bunsei (1804–1839) eras the singers of Kat�-bushi and Itchū-bushi songs came to attend guests as h�kan. When called by notables or samurai they wore hakama, and, while entertaining the guests with various amusements, acted with civility, but in the presence of traders they discarded the hakama. Generally speaking these men were well versed in deportment and various accomplishments, and, as they were fit to move in the best society, they were often engaged by poetasters, dilettantes, lovers of art and letters, and wealthy people, more as friends and companions than as the mere mercenaries they are at present. Indeed they were such highly educated and accomplished men in so many respects that persons of higher social standing were in no wise ashamed to have them for intimate acquaintances. At present the h�kan are looked down upon as belonging to a mean profession because they practice it as their sole means of earning a livelihood, whereas, in former times, it was individual taste rather than necessity which attracted persons to engage in this vocation. In order to make both ends meet, the latter-day h�kan grovel before and toady to their guests, and thus they have forfeited all title to the respect of the public. The story of the visit made to the Yoshiwara by H�ichi may be read in the light of revelations by one who was thoroughly familiar with the quarter. In the Bunkwa (1804–1817) and Bunsei (1818–1829) eras the hair of the h�kan was dressed in a style known as “mame-honda� (豆本田) and in the era of Temp� (1830–1843) in the “ko-icho� (�銀�) style.
“Mame-Honda� style of dressing hair.
Gradually the h�kan have deteriorated, but the men themselves are not solely to blame, for had their guests been respectable people, and punctilious sticklers for etiquette, these entertainers would have been compelled to maintain a high standard as regarded accomplishments and to have conducted themselves in a decorous manner. The trouble first arose through permitting laxity in the manner of dress and allowing the men to appear without hakama in the presence of guests: as soon as an inch was granted an ell was claimed, and so matters drifted on until the h�kan had sunk down to the very low social status they occupy nowadays. In an Oriental country, at any rate, if you permit any impropriety or breach of etiquette in silence the result will always be far-reaching and disastrous! In the pre-Restoration days, the fee (gyokudai) of a h�kan was 1 ry� (about 10 Yen) for 4 hours (from 6 to 10 p.m.) and out of this 500 mon (50 sen) was deducted by the kemban (see that [heading]) as commission. In order to evade necessity of paying a commission to the kemban, h�kan were in the habit of promenading the quarter in the hope of catching sight of guests whom they might happen to know, and of thus being engaged without the intervention of the registry office. This was known as “oka-dzuri� (岡釣り = land-fishing), and although the practice was known to the kemban that office simply winked at it. The present price of the h�kan’s services is 10 sen per joss-stick, and generally he receives a gratuity of from 50 sen to 1 Yen (from these payments certain small squeezes are levied by the kemban and the tea-house). There are now two classes of h�kan, one called jimae and the other kakae: members of the former (jimae) carry on their profession independently, while those of the latter (kakae) live in the houses of their masters and in return for board, and the loan of professional clothes, divide their earnings with their padrones. In fact the system is identical with the women geisha system. Among themselves they use many slangy expressions such as “O Chaya San� (instead of “hikite-jaya�). “Nesan� (instead of geisha: this word is only used in reference to the older women, the rest being designated by their own proper names), doing to a party by engagement is called “o zashiki� (instead of kyaku no seki ye deru); a brothel keeper’s private room “Go nai-sho� (instead of r�-shu no kyo-shitsu); courtesans “oiran� (instead of sh�gi); etc.; etc. In the Yoshiwara the public women are supposed to occupy the first position as leaders of society, so they are never spoken of as j�ro or sh�gi by any professional men and women, but called by the more flowery and euphemistic name of oiran.[26] Any song in which the words “Yoshiwara j�ro-shū (or sh�gi)� occurs is sung; altered to “Yoshiwara oiran,� thus softening the expression and making the sound more agreeable and less offensive to the courtesans themselves. They also call a courtesan’s room “oiran no o zashiki� (the august room of the oiran instead of “sh�gi no zashiki (courtesan’s room)). Shinz�, tea—house maids, etc., are spoken of by their respective names, and generally speaking, the same is the case with female geisha.
As female geisha are also controlled by the kemban-sho, their samisen boxes are placed out in a row at the office, each box bearing a paper label on which its owner’s name is written in large letters. Only the Naka-no-ch� geisha are registered in this establishment, and it takes no cognizance of moguri geisha (a geisha who carries on her profession clandestinely) or private geisha kept in smaller houses. In summoning a geisha, tea-houses send a maid-servant and brothels a wakaimono (man servant) to the registry office, and this messenger calls out—“⸺ san ⸺ oiran no o zashiki desu� (or translated freely “Miss ⸺ is wanted by guests in Miss ⸺’s apartments�). So thoroughly do the clerks in the kemban-sho know their business that no further conversation takes place, and the geisha is sent out forthwith: in most cases the clerks do not even enquire from whence the messenger has come as they generally are quick to recognize his or her identity, and at night a glance at the lantern of the applicant (which always bears a name or device) shows them the house to which the geisha is to proceed. If the geisha thus called has already been engaged, or is unable to attend to the call on account of sickness or other cause, an answer is given to that effect. (In the latter case a toothpick is stuck in the samisen box to show that the geisha is not able to visit her guests). The servants of the kemban-sho (kemban no ko-mono) are employed in carrying the geisha’s samisen wherever she goes. When a geisha is about to make her début she goes the round of tea-houses and brothels, accompanied by her employer (kakae-nushi) and comrades, distributing to each house towels or saké-cups inscribed with her name. These calls are made by way of introduction and to solicit patronage (aiko wo tanomi) and (as is the case with a new h�kan) the larger the number of friends who are present on this occasion the greater the honour to the geisha. The “shin-gao� (new-face), as she is called, invariably wears on the day of her début garments made of silk crêpe (chirimen) dyed with three white crests on each of them. Her hair is dressed in the “shimada� style, her obi (girdle) tied in a bow called “taiko-musubi,� and when she walks she turns back the skirt of her dress a little so as to allow a glimpse of her exquisite crêpe petticoat (naga-jiban) beneath. In case of the debutante being an o shaku (a young girl training to become a regular geisha) the style of her dress is left to her own choice, and on the day of her introduction she is called by some guest in accordance with previous arrangements made through a tea-house or brothel. If the young geisha has no engagement on this first night of her professional life it is considered as a great disgrace to her employer. It is a custom for the Yoshiwara geisha not to wear clothes bearing crests, except during the time of the New Year’s festivities and other time-honoured holidays and festivals, but to dress themselves in plain striped stuffs. On the “crest days� (紋日 = mom-bi. These are the Go-sekku or five national holidays, tori-no-machi, etc.) geisha are generally engaged, by previous appointment, by tea-houses, brothels, or by the request of some guests, and they therefore stop, during the proper hours, in the houses where they have been engaged, even though there be no guests to attend to. [On these particular days they don their crested garments for the nonce.] Should the geisha fail to keep her appointment, or not remain at her post during the regular time in accordance with established rules, she will be scolded by not only kemban but by the tea-houses and brothels, and it will be said about her:—“Zuibun tare San wa zubora da ne!� or shitsurei wo shiranai� (“Miss So and So is very neglectful isn’t she?� or “She has no sense of propriety or courtesy�).
Shimada style of coiffure.
The fees payable to a geisha are calculated at the kemban-sho by the number of hours her samisen box is away from the office. The fee is 12-1�2 sen per hour (it was 2 shu—Yen 1.25—in the olden days) and the tip given (tent� or shūgi) generally 1 Yen: for younger geisha (o shaku) the fee is 10 sen per hour and the tip about 20 sen. At present there is a class of cheap geisha who charge the rate of a younger geisha (o shaku nami no gyoku-dai = a fee the same as that of an o shaku). A small percentage of the geisha’s earnings is taken as commission by the tea-houses arranging the engagement. Some features of the old style of geisha are still retained among the singing-girls of the Yoshiwara. For instance, they wear a large maru-obi (a broad sash made out of a single piece of stuff folded lengthways once and sewn together at the edges, loosely tied and hanging down quite low) and a dress so long that it touches, and almost trails upon, the ground. The ancient styles of the coiffure are fast disappearing, their place being usurped by the Ich�gaeshi (or inverted maidenhair-leaf which requires no false hair, but consists of two tresses parted at the crown, made into rings, and gathered in at the top) and even the sokuhatsu (European style) style. Formerly the shimada was en regle and any other style was considered as impolite vis-a-vis guests. [Nowadays the ordinary geisha in the cities violate ancient customs in a hundred and one ways]. They also considered it stylish and “the thing� to go about barefooted and never, even in the coldest weather, wore socks, whereas of late years the geisha all wear tabi.
