Okiya

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An okiya ( Japanese お き や or 置 屋 ) denotes the house of a community of geishas or geikos . The word okiya is also used synonymously for the geisha family living in it .

The " mother " of the Okiya ( o-kāsan お 母 さ ん ), geishas (芸 者, "person of the arts / artist"), maiko (舞 妓, "dancing girl, girl of dance", geishas in training) live in an okiya and service staff together. Men are generally denied access to the okiya. There are exceptions to this rule: kimono dressing ( otokushi ), members of the kemban-sho (trade union or registration office of a hanamachi ), calligraphy and music teachers, wig makers, hairdressers and kimono tailors are allowed to enter an okiya , but even these are only allowed to visit the okiya on agreed dates and at certain times (mostly after 10 a.m. and before 8 p.m.).

Okiyas are located in Hanamachis , traditional geisha districts in many Japanese cities such as Kyōto , Tokyo or Osaka .

The okasan takes on a kind of maternal role for the geishas and maikos she looks after, even if she is not related to them.

design type

Garden in an okiya

Okiyas are always built in the style of a traditional Japanese wooden house and have a very special design. In Hanamachis, Okiyas are generally somewhat restricted in terms of space and therefore often appear to be crowded together from the outside. However, the special (often ring-shaped) construction enables the effective use of the limited space (a typical phenomenon for large Japanese cities) and the creation of a small garden in the middle of this ring. Of course there are also other types of construction, but the one mentioned here is the most common.

Like any other traditional Japanese house, Okiyas have fusuma (traditional Japanese sliding walls) that can be used as room dividers, for example. In addition, an Okiya contains Byobu (foldable wall screens) and Shoji, which are also used as room dividers or as wall and window coverings.

In Okiyas there is a kitchen, living rooms, bedrooms, a salon, bathroom (or an external bath house ), a dining room, dressing room, rooms for storing the valuable kimonos and one or more guest rooms. In addition, there is often a kotatsu in an okiya (a heated table as an alternative to the lack of central heating). A tokonoma niche is usually found in the salon or dining room .

Tokonoma with ikebana and a hanging picture sheet

The entrance to an okiya is usually very different from that of a modern Japanese house. There is a small hallway with a stone floor ( Genkan ) with small benches for visitors, shoe racks and cupboards. This is usually followed by a small step, before visitors can take off their shoes and slip into slippers provided. Only then does the actual living area with wooden floor follow and the individual rooms, which are covered with tatami and can only be entered in socks or barefoot.

Despite the traditional construction, okiyas are anything but backward. Most have an Internet connection and modern kitchen facilities.

Okiyas have two floors, with the living area on the lower floor and the sleeping area on the upper floor. Okiyas also often have roof terraces, which are less suitable for sitting and more for storing items or hanging laundry.

Cultural meaning

An alleyway lined with okiyas in Kanazawa

The Okiya provides Geisha a living learning and work, in which they are staying during their training needs and stay after the end of their training can . At the beginning of the geisha tradition, an okiya community often consisted of related women (mothers, sisters, cousins, and daughters) supplemented by women who came from outside the family. Occasionally they would marry into the family and then become part of the household, or they would be adopted by one of the owners. Geisha soon began to spread and more and more young, promising girls from the area of ​​the respective city were recruited.

Until the 1970s and 1980s, it was common for service personnel to live in a separate compartment of the Okiya; that has become rarer now. Many Okiya have domestic helpers who have a normal salaried relationship with the Okiya and who live in their own apartment. Larger okiya, in which more than 10 geisha and maiko and the okāsan like to live together, often have female cooks.

Today, family relationships between the individual members of an okiya are rare because there are only a few geisha offspring left. Since only a few young women dare to undertake the arduous geisha training, the number of okiya sank continuously for many years. Since the turn of the millennium, the number of geisha has increased again, the main reason for this being the Internet, with which many okiya recruit new maiko or geisha. As a result, the number of okiya is slowly increasing again. Most of the okiya are in Kyoto , the capital of traditional arts in Japan. There are a total of 56 active okiya with a total of 276 active geisha and maiko. The most recent was opened in 2007.

Social structure in the okiya

A great deal of importance is attached to the social structure within an okiya. At the top of the hierarchy is the okāsan , which can only be contradicted in rare exceptional cases, followed by the most senior geishas, ​​then the maiko and then the shikomi (仕 込 み, “training”, maiko in training who go to Gesha school and help in the household). At the beginning of their training, each maiko is given an older and more experienced maiko or geisha, called a onesan (お 姉 さ ん, "older sister"), who takes on the role of the trainer and gives her part of her name. At the beginning of her training, the maiko is at the bottom of the hierarchy and has to pay homage to all members above her.

The Okāsan is mostly a former geisha, so has decades of experience in the field. Should an okāsan become too old to manage an okiya alone or should die, the okiya is passed on to the heiress, the atatori . These are either daughters or other female family members or an adopted daughter who is almost always a geisha herself. Ideally, the atatori moves into the okiya as a child and is adopted, but this is rare these days. Most well-known atatori began their maiko careers at the age of 15 or 16.

Another important point is that one cannot ascend in the hierarchy of the okiya and the hanamachi per se through success or fame; At the top are always the most senior and most experienced geisha. This does not necessarily have to do with age: It is not uncommon for a geisha to be older, but to be below a younger geisha in the hierarchy because the geisha started her career earlier.

Whoever, despite their age, has to be respected are owners of okiya, teahouses and teachers, as they are essential for the geisha's survival. Even a 70-year-old geisha uses respectful language when dealing with them and thanks them regularly for their support.

Okiyas in the Hanamachi

Strict adherence to the rules of association among members of an okiya is extremely important. The various okiyas also cultivate their relationships with one another and with the various tea houses very carefully. For example, okāsan, geisha and maiko call other okiya and teahouses daily to thank them and visit them in person on a regular basis. They ensure that the Maikos (who are the last link in the chain of the Hanamachis ) are recognized and properly introduced into society.

The Okiya pays all costs for the training of the geisha (school fees, clothing fees, fees to the Kemban-sho etc.), which have to be repaid in the course of the time after the training. Therefore, after completing their training, a geisha still lives a certain time in the okiya to pay off their debts and to buy their own collection of kimono , obi and kanzashi (か ん ざ し / 簪, “hair accessories”) that were previously provided by the okiya, before starting her own business.

literature

Non-fiction

Novels

Documentation

  • Geisha Mysterious Life 2006, BBC Documentation
  • Geisha Girl, 2008, BBC Documentation

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kyoko Aihara: Geisha - A Living Tradition . Ed .: Carlton Books Ltd. Carlton Books Ltd., 2005, ISBN 1-84442-302-6 , pp. 128 .
  2. ↑ Mineko Iwasaki: The True Story of the Geisha . Ed .: Ullstein Taschenbuch. Ullstein Taschenbuch, 2004, ISBN 3-548-26186-8 , pp. 347 .
  3. ↑ Kyoko Aihara: Geisha - A Living Tradition . Ed .: Carlton Books Ltd. Carlton Books Ltd., 2005, ISBN 1-84442-302-6 , pp. 128 .
  4. ↑ Mineko Iwasaki: The True Story of the Geisha . Ed .: Ullstein Taschenbuch. Ullstein Taschenbuch, 2004, ISBN 3-548-26186-8 , pp. 347 .
  5. ↑ Liza Dalby: Geisha . Ed .: University of California Press. Renewed ed. For the 25th birthday. University of California Press, 2008, ISBN 0-520-25789-8 , pp. 374 .
  6. ↑ Mineko Iwasaki: The True Story of the Geisha . Ed .: Ullstein Taschenbuch. Ullstein Taschenbuch, 2004, ISBN 3-548-26186-8 , pp. 347 .
  7. ↑ Kyoko Aihara: Geisha - A Living Tradition . Ed .: Carlton Books Ltd. Carlton Books Ltd., 2005, ISBN 1-84442-302-6 , pp. 128 .