KYOTO—Geisha served tea beneath a cloud of pink petals at Kitano Tenmangu shrine’s plum blossom festival, which commemorates the virtues of the shrine’s deity, on Feb. 25. The shrine, a ...

Medieval Japanese culture, influenced by Confucian ideals, imposed strict gender roles. While Japanese women had more power than their European counterparts, they were still expected to be homemakers, ...

I vividly recall being captivated by the world of geishas after watching Memoirs of a Geisha, a 2005 American epic period film directed by Rob Marshall.