The head of the Morioka Chamber of Commerce made an appeal at a press conference last week to keep the city’s longstanding geisha tradition alive. However, he made it clear that, if you’re over age 25, men don’t wanna see you. Despite feminists and human rights activists in Japan rebuking his comments, he’s sticking by them.
To be a geisha, you must be in Leonardo Dicaprio’s age range
Morioka, one of Japan’s up-and-coming travel destinations, is home to Morioka Geigi, a geisha tradition going back to Japan’s Meiji era. At its peak, according to NHK News, the organization had up to 100 performers. It’s currently down to four – and those four exist thanks to the efforts of the Chamber of Commerce, which worked to prevent the tradition from going extinct in 2010 (Heisei 22).
However, the tradition is once again at risk of vanishing. The Chamber held auditions for “trainees” last year but ended up not accepting anyone who auditioned. It’s rebranded the position as “Morioka Maiko” (maiko being the traditional term for apprentice geisha) and is seeking new applicants up to the 15th of this month. Those accepted will undergo training in dance and etiquette for six months starting in June.
However, something else happened at the April 8th press conference.
As Asahi Shimbun reports, Chamber of Commerce Leader Tanimura Kunihisa, who runs Morioka Geigi, made it clear the Chamber was only looking for young women “between the ages of 18 and 25” (a.k.a. the DiCaprio Threshold). When asked why, he replied, “Geisha bring out men. Obviously, men like young women.”
The requirement is new. In the past, the Morioka Geigi Committee, which Tanimura leads, only required women to be 18 or older.
“Preserving traditional culture” – or simple exploitation?
The Committee supervisor had a slightly better (though still crappy) excuse for the age restriction than Tanimura did. They said that a geisha’s work is physically demanding, which requires them to look for younger candidates.
The Committee says that Tanimura, who also runs Michinoku Coco-Cola Bottling Co., has no plans to retract his statement. Tasso Takuya, the governor of Iwate Prefecture, explained it away by saying that Tanimura said he was “hounded” by questions and couldn’t recall a better answer on the spot.
The excuses aren’t going over well online. One commenter on X wrote, “When I hear this, I can’t help but think this is less about ‘art’ and ‘traditional culture’ and more about, ‘how can we please men?’ In the end, ‘traditional culture’ is a ruse for exploitation.”
Feminists in Japan are also stiffly rebuking the Chamber’s sexism. In a reply to the story, lawyer and noted feminist Ōta Keiko wrote, “It’s a disgusting turn of phrase. It doesn’t make sense if your goal is preserving arts like dance and shamisen to limit participants to under 25 years old. Even women who start in their 30s and 40s can keep practicing for long hours if they’re motivated, so the committee supervisor’s claim doesn’t hold water.”
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