Introduction

Geisha originated during the mid-eighteenth century within the thriving urban theater and pleasure districts of Edo and Kyoto, where a wide body of musical repertoire was also developing. Liza Dalby's research taught much about the internal structure and workings of the geisha community, and her findings on the symbolic "families" of women within the karyukai provided a much needed basis of understanding for geisha identity. The majority of materials that treat the topic of geisha focus on images of lovely passive "geisha girls" whose purpose is male entertainment and pleasure, or as prostitutes or courtesans. "Geisha" is merged with a more general notion of Asian woman in a reminiscing for a mythical past when all women were passive and docile. The meaning of "geisha" in the United States has shifted from an endentured servant and "kept woman", to an exotic woman highly skilled in the erotic arts, and finally to a generic image of subservient Asian woman.