Geisha Secrets: A Pillow Book for Lovers

The world of Japanese geisha culture has long commanded worldwide interest and fascination. A document of this culture, as well as an exercise in erotic tradition, the "pillow book," was first used during Japan's Kamakura period (1192–1333). It then developed into a wider range of boudoir literature. Others became illustrated portfolios, or shunga, traditional Japanese erotic art that recalls great eighteenth-century masters such as Hokusai and Utamaro, as well as today's popular Manga comics. These pillow books were used by courtesans and geishas to aid sexual exploration, and throughout history also became a cultural guide to the world of the geisha, describing training, dress, makeup, and style, both public and private. This book brings the world of the geisha to us in glorious vibrancy through its topics of the history of the geisha tradition, the rigors of the geisha apprenticeship, the significance of the kimono, and the meticulous care of the daily routine and cosmetics; the perfection of skills of ceremony, dance, and music, and the significance of misuage—loss of virginity—and the role of the danna, or patron. Filled with the facts of formal tradition and ritual along with erotic symbolism makes Geisha Secrets a must for aficionados of classic erotica and for anyone else who wishes to preserve the rapidly vanishing world of the geisha.