New Year, New Kind of Geisha?

Visit Sayuki's Website

As I'm sure most geisha enthusiasts already know, Aussie social anthropolgist Fiona Graham made her formal debut as a geisha in Tokyo's Asakusa district on December 19th after a year of training, or "feild work", as she refers to it on her website. Just in time to begin the new year as Japan's first western, professional geisha, she is already planning to release a book entitled "Sayuki: Inside the Flower and Willow World" and a documentary that will be filmed throughout the year.

The maiko of Kyoto endure intensive training for 5-6 years before earning the honor of turning their collars and becoming full-fledged geiko.

Graham's professional name, Sayuki, comes from the Chinese character 紗 sa, meaning gossamer and 幸 yuki, meaning happiness, wish or fortune. This could be translated a number of ways: Delicate Delight, Ethereal Joy, or Sheer Bliss (^_^)v

Graham recieved her MBA in Psychology and teaching from Oxford before beginging her study of social anthropology. She has spent half of her life in Japan, graduating from a Japanese high school long before becoming the first western woman to graduate from Tokyo's Keio University.

Read the Telegraph's article: Westerner inducted into mysteries of geisha