The first woman known to have called herself geisha was a Fukagawa prostitute, in about 1750.

Historically, geisha often began the earliest stages of their training at a very young age, sometimes as early as at 3 or 5 years.

By watching other geisha, and with the assistance of the owner of the geisha house, apprentices also become skilled dealing with clients and in the complex traditions surrounding selecting and wearing kimono, a floor length silk robe embroidered with intricate designs which is held together by a sash at the waist which is called an obi.

World War II brought a huge decline in the geisha arts because most women had to go to factories or other places to work for Japan.

Geisha still study traditional instruments the shamisen , shakuhachi , and drums, as well as learning games, traditional songs, calligraphy, Japanese traditional dances (in the nihonbuyō style), tea ceremony, literature, and poetry.

After the imperial court moved the capital to Heian kyō (Kyoto) in 794 the conditions that would form Japanese Geisha culture began to emerge, as it became the home of a beauty obsessed elite.

The old fogeys don't come because they're mad at Buddha, because when he came to their city he accepted he always accepts the first invitation that comes to him, from whoever it is, and the local geisha, a movie star sort of person, raced the elders of the city in a chariot and invited him first.