Beautiful Photos of Geisha and Maiko Without Kimonos During Meiji Era

A maiko is an apprentice geisha in Kyoto and Western Japan. Their jobs consist of performing songs, dances, and playing the shamisen or other traditional Japanese instruments for visitors during banquets and parties, known as ozashiki.

Portraits of geisha and maiko without kimonos in the early 1900s

Maiko are usually aged between 17 to 20 years old, and graduate to geisha status after a period of training, which includes learning to dance traditionally, play the shamisen, sing kouta, and, in Kyoto only, learn the Kyoto dialect. This apprenticeship usually ranges from a period of a few months to a year or two years, though apprentices too old to dress as maiko may instead skip to the stage of geisha, despite still being in training.

Here below is a set of beautiful photos from Okinawa Soba that shows portraits of geisha and maiko without kimonos in the early 1900s.

A geisha awake inside her own dream

A geisha gathering her hair

A geisha girl models an exotic take on western fashion

A geisha waits between poses as the photographer changes out lenses

A geisha with her hair down, holding white roses

A geisha with lilies

Another geisha captured by missionaries

Filled with overflowing joy at the prospects of martial bliss

Filled with overflowing joy at the prospects of martial bliss

Flowers and lace

Geisha in a night gown

Geisha in combination nightgown wedding dress

Geisha in her bathing suit

Geisha with a tennis racket

Geisha with mirror and veil

Hidden nakedness under lace and stars

Lilies askance

Lost in a flowery stare

Practical geisha tries on the latest from Paris

Seated geisha in a dress

Shadow and light for geisha and lace

Shadows and light, a geisha's delight

Simple pose of seated geisha in white

The quiet geisha

Twigs and leaves

Two goddesses

Window light falls on geisha and lace