Geisha (芸者) are professional female entertainers who perform traditional Japanese arts whose skills include performing various Japanese arts, such as classical music and dance. Contrary to popular opinion and Western stereotypes, geisha are not prostitutes. maybe you can see the term of geisha ini film titteled "memoir of geisha".
They are trained in a number of traditional skills such as Japanese ancient dance, singing, playing instruments such as the Shamisen, flower arrangement, wearing kimo no, tea ceremony, calligraphy, conversation, alcohol serving manners and more. Geisha continue to study and perfect these skills throughout their careers as geisha.
A successful geisha must demonstrate beauty, grace, artistic talent, charm, impeccable etiquette, and refinement. Only guests with a long time connection with the tea house are allowed and tea houses generally don't take on new clients without an introduction. The profession of a geisha is a very expensive business and a geisha party can easily cost thousands of US dollars. The total number of geisha in the 1920's was 80,000, but today the number of geisha has dropped to 10,000 due to the westernizing of Japanese culture.
Apprentice geisha are called maiko. This word is made of the kanji 舞 (mai) meaning "dancing" and 妓 (ko) meaning "child". It is the maiko, with her white make-up and elaborate kimono and hairstyle, that has become the stereotype of a "geisha" to westerners, rather than the true geisha.
Tokyo geisha generally do not follow the ritualized Kyoto maiko apprentice process. The training period can be six months to a year - notably shorter than a Kyoto maiko - before she debuts as a full geisha. The trainee is referred to as a han'gyoku (半玉) or "half-jewel", or by the more generic term o-shaku (御酌) lit. "one who pours (alcohol)". On average, Tokyo geisha tend to be older than their Kyoto counterparts, many holding formal degrees from university.
