Maiko Masquerade explores Japanese representations of the maiko, or apprentice geisha, in films, manga, and other popular media as an icon of exemplary girlhood. Jan Bardsley traces how the maiko, long stigmatized as a victim of sexual exploitation, emerges in the 2000s as the chaste keeper of Kyoto’s classical artistic traditions. Insider accounts by maiko and geisha, their leaders and fans, show pride in the training, challenges, and rewards maiko face. No longer viewed as a toy for men’s amusement, she serves as catalyst for women’s consumer fun. This change inspires stories of ordinary girls—and even one boy—striving to embody the maiko ideal, engaging in masquerades that highlight questions of personal choice, gender performance, and national identity.
Table of Content
List of Illustrations
Preface: Why Study Maiko Stories?
Notes on Japanese Terms and Currency
Introduction: The Maiko, Kyoto’s Apprentice Geisha
1. The Maiko’s Hanamachi Home
2. The Well-Mannered Career Path
3. Life in the Hanamachi: Voices of Maiko and Geiko
4. From Victim to Artist: Maiko Stories in Movies and Manga
5. Adventures of a Boy Maiko: There Goes Chiyogiku!
6. Hit a Homer, Maiko! Maiko Visual Comedy
Conclusion: The Ordinary Girl in the Maiko Masquerade
Acknowledgments
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Jan Bardsley is Professor Emerita of Asian Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is the author of Women and Democracy in Cold War Japan and the award-winning The Bluestockings of Japan: New Woman Essays and Fiction from Seito, 1911–1916.
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