Nice to meet you! I’m a 22 year old anthropology student from Wisconsin, USA. There is a small chance that some of you may already know me as Bird-of-Ice from Deviantart.com where I do have a few geisha-related pieces; but odds are I’m a totally new face here, yet another woman fascinated with the “Flower and Willow World.”

I remember being a little girl and seeing every once in a while, an image of a gorgeously costumed maiko in this magazine or on that television show. I knew the word “geisha,” and that it meant those fairy-tale women with their ornate clothes and petal-white skin, but to that word, no further meaning was attached.

Now older, I am still amazed by these women. Like so many, I am in awe of geisha, geiko and maiko as living works of art, yet I must remember not to keep them on a pedestal as though they were indeed the porcelain dolls their image brings to mind. I want to know as much as I can about these real people and their lifestyle. Performers as well as learners, traditional as well as modern; living, working and appearing in line with cultural and aesthetic ideals, yet still people of individual strengths and weaknesses, I can’t help but want to learn more about the women (and men) who pursue and have pursued this unique career.

Welcome Flower-san. Then that's good you're here

welcome

it is great, that you have such a clear idea of what you want to know and learn - i hope this is a good place for you!