What Is a Geisha? What Kyoto's Geiko and Maiko Actually Do

We operate the Maiko & Zen Kyoto experience mentioned in this guide.

A geisha is a professional entertainer, trained in traditional Japanese music and dance, who entertains guests at banquets. In Kyoto, geisha are called geiko, and their apprentices are called maiko. Kyoto still has five geisha districts, where geiko and maiko perform at banquets and on stage. Here is what their work involves, how they train, and how a maiko becomes a geiko.

Geisha, Geiko, and Maiko

• Geisha is the broader Japanese term for professional women who entertain at banquets with dance and music.
• Geiko is the word used in Kyoto and the wider Kansai region for fully fledged geisha. Some specialize in dance, others in music.
• Maiko are apprentices training to become geiko, usually for five to six years.

The City of Kyoto describes geiko and maiko as bearers of traditional performing arts and of hospitality. Their banquets take place in teahouses that usually welcome guests only by introduction, so most travelers see them at public dances and performances instead.

What Geiko and Maiko Do

The Japanese dictionary definition is simple: a geiko is a woman whose profession is to add to the enjoyment of a banquet with dance and music. In practice, the work has three parts:

• Banquets (ozashiki). Maiko and dancer geiko perform dances, geiko musicians play the shamisen and sing, and all of them entertain guests and lead banquet games such as tora tora, a variation of rock-paper-scissors, and konpira fune fune, played to shamisen music. Banquets are held in ochaya, teahouses that arrange the performers, the food, and the room for each guest. Many ochaya follow the custom of ichigen-san okotowari, not accepting first-time guests without an introduction, which the City of Kyoto describes as a way to know each guest well and offer better hospitality.
• Public performances. Each district stages its own public dances, and the five districts also perform together at joint events.
• Lessons. Regular practice in dance, music, and etiquette.

Kyoto has five geisha districts, or hanamachi: Gion Kobu, Miyagawacho, Pontocho, Kamishichiken, and Gion Higashi. For how the districts run, see our guide to geisha in Kyoto.

Two Roles: Dancers and Musicians

The City of Kyoto explains that geiko specialize in one of two roles:

A geiko interviewed by the Kyoto Traditional Musical Art Foundation describes learning the shamisen by watching and listening to a senior geiko, then repeating what she heard, alongside her formal lessons.

How a Maiko Becomes a Geiko

The road to geiko is long. The years a visitor might notice are the five to six she spends as a maiko, training in dance, shamisen, music, song, tea ceremony, and etiquette, until she is judged ready to "turn her collar" in erikae and become a geiko. She becomes a maiko at misedashi, three days of formal greeting rounds of the teahouses in a black crested kimono. Before that come about a year as a shikomi, living in an okiya (a geisha house) after junior high school, and about a month as a minarai, learning at banquets beside an "older sister" geiko.

As a geiko, she is expected to stand on her own talent. A geiko who becomes independent (jimae) has no retirement age and can keep working for life, according to the foundation.

A Day in the Life of a Maiko

Evening banquets are one part of a maiko's day. According to the foundation, they begin around 6:00 pm, and she often gets to bed after midnight, sometimes after 1:00 am. Before the evening come a late lunch and time to get ready, and before those, lessons such as dance from about 10:00 am until midday or early afternoon at a training school (nyokoba) or theater (kaburenjo). She rises between 8:00 and 10:00 am.

Each of Kyoto's five geisha districts has its own customs, so some details described here may differ from one district to another.

Lessons and Schools

Geiko and maiko study a wide range of performing arts. A City of Kyoto report lists dance; the vocal and shamisen styles nagauta, kouta, tokiwazu, and kiyomoto; percussion; flute; and koto; as well as tea ceremony, calligraphy, and flower arrangement. Each district has its own training facilities, and each follows its own school of dance:

Two of the training schools, Yasaka Nyokoba Gakuen in Gion Kobu and Higashiyama Joshi Gakuen in Miyagawacho, are incorporated as school corporations.

Do Geisha Still Exist Today?

Yes. Kyoto still has five geisha districts, and each stages its own public dances. Around 70 geiko and maiko from the five districts rehearsed together for the joint performance Miyako no Nigiwai in June 2026, and 173 geiko and maiko attended the foundation's 30th-anniversary celebration in January 2026. These are event figures, not a count of all geiko and maiko.

The foundation also honors veteran geiko. Since 1996, it has certified geiko aged 60 and over with long careers as holders of traditional arts (dento gigei hojisha), recognizing their role in preserving and passing on the arts.

Seeing Geiko and Maiko Perform

Ticketed ways to see them include the districts' dances in spring and autumn, and Gion Corner's evening program of traditional arts. See our Kyoto geisha dance calendar and our guide to geisha shows in Kyoto. To learn how to tell an apprentice from a geiko, read maiko vs. geiko.

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