Okiya

A okiya (Japaneseおきやor置 屋) is the home of a community of geishas or geiko. The word okiya is also used as a synonym for living there Geisha "family".

In an okiya the " mother" of the okiya (o -Kazanお母さん), geishas, ​​maiko ( geisha under training ) and service personnel living together. Men is denied access to the okiya normally. Exceptions to this rule, there are still: Kimono Ankleidern ( otokushi ), members of the Kemban - sho ( union or registration office of Hanamachi ), calligraphy and music teachers, wig makers and hairstylists and kimono - cutters allowed to enter an okiya.

Okiyas are in hanamachi, traditional geisha districts in many Japanese cities such as Kyoto, Tokyo or Osaka.

The Okasan takes for the geisha and maiko who are served, a kind mother role, even if it is not related to them.

Type

Okiyas are always built in the style of a traditional Japanese wooden house and have a very special design. In hanamachi Okiyas are generally concentrated space technically something and therefore appear from the outside as often crowded together. However, the special (often ring-shaped) design allows the effective use of the little space ( a typical Japanese cities phenomenon ) and the system in a small garden in the middle of this ring. Of course other constructions, however, is mentioned herein the most common case.

Okiyas feature like any other traditional Japanese house on Fusuma (traditional Japanese sliding panels ), which can for example be used as a room divider. Also, find themselves in an okiya Byobu ( folding screens ) and Shoji which are also used as a room divider, or as wall and window trim.

In Okiyas there is a kitchen, living rooms, bedrooms, a living room, bathroom ( bath-house or external ), a dining room, dressing room, rooms for the storage of valuable kimonos and one or more rooms. There is also in a okiya often a Kotatsu ( heated table as an alternative to usually lack central heating). In the living room or the dining room there is usually a Tokonoma niche.

The input of an okiya usually differs significantly from that of a modern Japanese house. There is a small hallway with stone flooring ( Genkan ), are in the small benches for visitors, shoe shelves and cabinets. Then usually follows a small step, take off their shoes in front of the visitors, and can slip into provided slippers. Only then comes the actual living area with wooden floors and individual rooms are tatami and may only be entered in socks or barefoot.

Despite the traditional construction Okiyas are anything but backward. Most have an internet connection and modern kitchen facilities.

Okiyas have two floors where there is the sleeping area on the lower floor of the living room and on the upper floor. In addition Okiyas often have roof terraces, but they are less suitable for sitting rather than for storage of items or hanging laundry.

Cultural Significance

The okiya offers the Geisha a residential learning and work, in which they must remain during their training and can stop after the end of their training. At the beginning of the 20th century, when the blossom hanamachi began and the profession of the geisha became more popular and was no longer subject to an exclusive clientele, an okiya community was mostly made ​​up of related females ( mothers, sisters, cousins ​​and daughters ), by women who came from outside the family, have been added. Occasionally, these married into the family, and then became part of the household, or they were adopted by one of the owners.

Today kinship between the individual members of a okiya are rare because it ( if only because of the declining birth rate in Japan) are hardly any young geisha. Since only a few young women want to bother with the extremely arduous training for Geisha, the number of Okiyas decreases continuously. Most Okiyas there in Kyoto, the capital of the traditional arts of Japan.

Social structure in the okiya

The social structure within a okiya is attached very much importance. At the top of the hierarchy is the OKASAN, followed by the most senior geisha and maiko then. Each Maiko is at the beginning of their training an older and more experienced maiko or geisha set aside, taking over the role of the instructor. Thus, the Maiko is at the beginning of their training at the lowest position in the hierarchy and must pay tribute to all members standing over her homage.

Okiyas in the Hanamachi

A strict compliance with the rules for dealing with other members of okiya is extremely important. The various Okiyas maintain relationships with each other and to the various teahouses very carefully and thus ensure the recognition and befitting introduction of maiko ( which is the last link in the chain of hanamachi account ) into society.

The okiya takes over for the training of Geisha all costs ( school fees, clothing, money, donations to the Kemban -sho, etc.) that need to be but you repaid in the course of time after training. Therefore, it is imperative that the geisha lives after training a few years in the okiya community and their debt to the owner of the okiya paid off before they can embark on their own feet.

615552
de