STORIES
After weeks of playing cat and mouse,
Chinatsu and Shichi have their official first date.
Chinatsu invites him into her room.
Small talk ensues.
Followed by an awkward silence. Then ...
CHINATSU:
Shichi, there is something I have wanted to do since you arrived.
CHINATSU:
Forgive me. I could not help myself.
SHICHI:
You’re forgiven.
SHICHI:
... Forgive me, but I can’t help myself either.
One thing leads to another and ...
SHICHI:
Chinatsu?
CHINATSU:
Hmmm?
SHICHI:
Where's your daughter?
CHINATSU:
You think of my Meg now?
SHICHI:
I just noticed her absence.
CHINATSU:
She is spending the evening with her cousin, Pica.
SHICHI:
So, you planned this.
CHINATSU:
You do not mind?
SHICHI:
No, it’s nice to know you're finally appreciating me.
CHINATSU:
Is that what you think?
SHICHI:
You did arrange for us to be alone, all night, and then
you proceeded to seduce me. What should I think?
CHINATSU:
Exactly that.
Later ...
CHINATSU:
Shall I get you something to eat, perhaps a drink?
SHICHI:
No thanks. I was hoping we could have an actual conversation.
CHINATSU:
That would be nice. Although we have yet to be successful
at it. What shall we discuss?
SHICHI:
You. I mean your life as a geisha. I've been doing some research but there's something I'm confused about … Was this part of it?
CHINATSU:
What? This! What we just ...? I understand your confusion.
SHICHI:
Isn't the goal of a geisha to get a patron and become his mistress?
CHINATSU:
We are artists. A patron would treat us the same as if he were supporting any artist, such as an opera singer or painter.
We are not, all of us, mistresses.
SHICHI:
You're telling me that a relationship between
a geisha and her patron is strictly business?
CHINATSU:
I did not say that. Things happen, but that is between the two of them. Many geisha marry a client, but then who else would she marry?
Such is the company we keep.
SHICHI:
Did you have a patron?
CHINATSU:
I did not need one. Had I stayed, I would’ve inherited the okiya,
the house I lived in, and all the geisha who lived there would then work for me. It would have been my business. This had been established not long after I made my debut as geisha.
SHICHI:
You were pretty successful?
CHINATSU:
My presence was in demand.
SHICHI:
Uh-huh. No patron needed and no sex with clients, right?
What about the … I read about something called mizuij?
CHINATSU:
You must mean mizu-age. The first sexual experience
of a maiko. Would you like to hear about my mizu-age?
SHICHI:
I don’t want to pry …
CHINATSU:
smiling
Yes you do, and I shall tell you just the same. You must keep in mind that
this is no longer the way things are done. I lived, as a geisha, in the early part of the 20th century. In order for a maiko to turn her collar,
this was required.
SHICHI:
Turn her collar?
CHINATSU:
A maiko is an apprentice geisha. When one goes from maiko
to geisha, her collar, the part of her under kimono that is in
view, goes from red to white. Then she is a full geisha.
SHICHI:
And a geisha's just an entertainer?
CHINATSU:
We are trained to sing, to dance, to play shamisen, the instrument of
geisha. We perform the tea ceremony and act at hostesses in the tea house. And must be adept at creating beautiful flower arrangements - my personal favorite.
SHICHI:
You went to school for this?
CHINATSU:
Yes, and we must keep current on political and business activities,
so we can converse with our clients. It was one of the few ways for a woman to get an education, then.
SHICHI:
And after all this intense training you're not a full geisha
until you do this miso-age?
CHINATSU:
That is correct. But one can remain a maiko, if she prefers, and she can still do all that a geisha does. Anyway, my mizuage took seven nights and involved 21 eggs - but I am getting ahead of myself. First you
must understand that I chose the gentleman myself ...
CHINATSU:
This was done discreetly, with the guidance of my okasan, the owner of my okiya. It is she who negotiates a price. She was like a mother to me and suggested him.
SHICHI:
Price?
CHINATSU:
Oh yes. Up till then, my okasan paid for my training, sheltered me, clothed me, fed me - and after my mizusage, I no longer had a debt to her. Anyway, it is understood that only a mature man would have the patience to handle such a delicate situation.
SHICHI:
So, it never would have been me?
CHINATSU:
Not with my ookasan. So, on the first night of my mizusage,
he came to me and brought with him three eggs. He broke the eggs and
separated the yokes from whites. The yokes he swallowed whole. The whites, he massaged into my thighs. Then he bid me good night and left.
SHICHI:
He left?
CHINATSU:
It was a surprise to me too. On the second night, he returned with three more eggs and repeated his actions from the night before. When he massaged my thighs with the whites, he went slightly further ... north. Then he bid me good night and left.
CHINATSU:
… This went on for six nights. On the seventh night,
it happened, mizuage done.
SHICHI:
Seven nights - what a long tease.
CHINATSU:
I agree. I was ready the first night.
