Mizuage (水揚げ, lit. 'hoisting from water') was a ceremony undergone by apprentice oiran (kamuro) and some maiko (apprentice geisha) as part of their coming of age ceremony and graduation.

A debate rages as to whether the loss of virginity was actually a part of mizuage, an actual historic occurrence, something only done by oiran, or just a dramatic scene concocted for Arthur Golden’s bestselling novel, Memoirs of a Geisha.

Following the introduction of the Prostitution Prevention Law in 1956, geisha benefited from the official criminalisation of practices such as mizuage, a practice that had at times been undertaken coercively or through force by some maiko in mostly pre-war Japan.

Feb 9, 2017 · Mizuage, a coming-of-age ceremony in which a patron paid a great sum of money to take a maiko’s virginity, did exist, but it was more of a courtesan’s tradition than a maiko’s. Traditionally, mizuage for maiko was a change in hairstyle that symbolized the girl’s next step to becoming a geisha.

The Mizukage (水影, literally meaning: Water Shadow) is the Kage of Kirigakure, a title bestowed on the village's leader. The Mizukage is generally regarded as the strongest shinobi in the village. There have been six Mizukage in the village's history.

Jan 2, 2025 · After a few years of thorough and intense training, a Maiko will have a mizuage ceremony to be initiated into becoming a full-fledged Geisha. There are multiple differences between the two, however we’ve listed the most important details below:

Mizuage (水揚げ?, lit. "hoisting from water") was a ceremony undergone by a Japanese maiko (apprentice geisha) to signify her coming of age. When the older geisha training her deemed the maiko ready to come of age, the topknot of her hair was symbolically cut.

In the world of geisha, mizuage refers to how much money a person makes from working at ochaya in a single year. In this case, Mineko did have the highest mizuage for six years straight, which was a record at the time, and this made her the most famous geisha of the century.

Apr 8, 2022 · Mizuage. Although sleeping with clients was forbidden for geisha, the practice of “mizuage” was not entirely uncommon in the past. Mizuage saw clients bid for the right to take the virginity of a maiko and was seen as part of her coming of age ceremony and rise into the role of …

May 17, 2023 · Mizuage was the ancient Japanese practice of selling a geisha's virginity to the highest bidder on auction. In the case of oiran, a high-class prostitute, mizuage represented auctioning of the right to be oiran's first customer.