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Author | Chubby Entertainment said 0416
Edit | Chubby Entertainment said 0416
Japanese geisha culture is a unique and mysterious existence.
Mineko Iwasaki, once played by Zhang Ziyi, is one of the most outstanding representatives of Japanese flower leaders, and her experience is very colorful.
Not only that, but Iwasaki Mineko was also disgusted by the disrespectful behavior of Prince Charles of England, and even made the Queen of England jealous because of her, causing the Queen to sleep in separate rooms with Prince Philip.
In the 70s of the 20th century, Japanese geisha culture reached its peak.
As one of the most prominent flower leaders of her time, Iwasaki was invited to perform for the visiting British Prince Charles.
After the performance, the curious Prince Charles took the fan from Iwasaki's hand and signed it without her consent.
Such rude and rude behavior infuriated Iwasaki Mineko.
According to Japanese custom, the fan is an important prop in geisha performances and represents the dignity of the geisha.
Prince Charles's actions are undoubtedly trampling on the dignity of Iwasaki Mineko.
When she got home, Iwasaki threw away the fan in anger.
More than 10 years later, Queen Elizabeth II and his wife visited Japan.
Mineko Iwasaki was once again invited to perform for them and accompany them throughout their visit.
This time, Iwasaki Mineko showed a mature and charming demeanor, which deeply attracted the attention of Prince Philip.
During the visit, Prince Philip repeatedly made overtures to Iwasaki Mineko, causing extreme dissatisfaction among Queen Elizabeth.
It is said that the Queen even slept in a separate room with Prince Philip that night as a way to express her anger at the Prince.
However, Iwasaki Mineko did not know that she had inadvertently caused a dispute between the royal couple.
As a geisha with high self-esteem, she simply maintains her professionalism and shows the most beautiful and moving side of Japanese geisha.
It is because of her focus and attitude that she has won the appreciation of Prince Philip.
However, the royal strife caused by this inadvertent also made the Japanese officials in charge of the reception very embarrassed.
During Ford's presidency as President of the United States, he had dinner with Mineko Iwasaki.
Interested in traditional Japanese culture, Ford asked Mineko Iwasaki many questions about geisha training and life.
Iwasaki not only answered the question, but also corrected Ford's misconceptions about some geisha customs, such as that geisha is not the same as a prostitute.
The reason why Iwasaki Mineko is so persistent is because she has an extraordinary background.
In 1949, Iwasaki was born into a declining aristocratic family in Tokyo, originally named Genmasako Tanaka.
Her ancestors were once rich and powerful.
But in her father's generation, the family was in the middle of the road and the property was gone.
In order to maintain their dignity, they still employ up to 50 servants.
However, this extravagant lifestyle soon drained the last savings of this declining aristocratic family.
In the end, Iwasaki's father had to choose to send his 6-year-old daughter to study at a famous geisha restaurant in Kyoto.
For a little girl who was supposed to live a carefree childhood, this is undoubtedly a huge blow.
She had to leave her parents and face rigorous geisha training alone.
What made it even more difficult for her to accept was that at the age of 10, she was adopted by the Iwasaki family and changed to her adoptive father's surname instead of Tanaka.
Mineko Iwasaki, who was only ten years old at the time, even had the idea of taking her own life.
However, she quickly adjusted her mentality and pinned all her hopes on dance, tirelessly practicing her craft.
Under the careful guidance of the famous geisha Motoue, Yachiyo, Iwasaki's dance skills have advanced by leaps and bounds.
With excellent dance skills and perseverance, Iwasaki Mineko quickly achieved great success.
In Japan, compared to ancient times on the mainland, there is a certain threshold for wanting to see Hanakui.
It is necessary to pass multiple levels of assessment to become the guest of the flower leader.
When a guest wants to visit a certain flower leader, he first goes to the tea house, which is the first step of the "Yangya test".
Here guests show their grandeur and financial power by purchasing expensive refreshments and gifts.
And the old bustard of the tea house will decide what level of flower kui to recommend to him according to his consumption.
After passing the initial test, guests need to set up a banquet in the tea house and wait for the flower kui to appear.
In the initial stage, Hua Kui will only give a simple greeting and will not communicate too much with the guests, which is called the "first meeting".
If both parties are satisfied with each other, after a while the guests come again and prepare more expensive gifts and pomp and continue to wait for the flowers.
This second time, Hua Kui will be a little more enthusiastic and have a short conversation with the guests.
If Hua Kui has a good impression of the guest, the guest can enter Hua Kui's boudoir when she visits for the third time and become her guest of honor.
During the whole process, the tea house introduction fee, banquet fee and other expenses added up to about 200,000 yuan.
Once a guest is chosen, he can no longer patronize other wandering girls.
If something happens to a change of heart, you must pay a huge "escape fee" to Hua Kui to change the object.
Instead, Huakui can have multiple guests at the same time.
They will also show their style in the streets and alleys of "Huakui Road", further highlighting the dignity and delicate of Huakui.
They wear ornaments such as hairpins and flower pins, which weigh about 20 pounds in total.
They wear clogs up to 20 centimeters tall on their feet, which take years to get used to.
Perfect posture must be trained for a long time to walk freely under this kind of work.
When Hua Kui went out, there was a large honor guard, and in the front were two male servants carrying lanterns, and the lamps were written with Hua Kui's name and rank.
They were followed by several young handmaids holding baskets containing Hua Kui's personal belongings.
Hua Kui herself is supported by a male servant, and she walks in a special figure-eight step, which is called "Hua Kui Step".
Such a grand procession marched through the streets, attracting the attention of countless passers-by.
This ritual is known as "Hanakui Dochu" and is still preserved as a traditional performance.
Dressed in vintage Hanakui costumes and equipped with a traditional honor guard, performers recreate the scene of ancient Hanakui going out in a slow gait characteristic of Japan.
However, behind the golden splendor, the flower leaders have also experienced various open and dark battles and suffered many injuries.
Because Iwasaki Mineko's reputation was too high, it caused the jealousy of other Hanakui.
Some senior flower leaders would hide needles in her clothing in order to get stabbed while she danced.
Some flowers took advantage of her unpreparedness to extinguish her cigarettes with the palm of their hands.
But what hurt Mineko Iwasaki the most was the exclusion from her sister.
Her older sister Yaeko is also a famous flower leader.
Yaeko later left the business, but family life was not satisfactory.
She blames all her misfortunes on her sister Iwasaki Mineko and begins to vilify her behind her back.
This experience made Feng Zi understand that the more outstanding people are, the more jealous eyes they will be.
However, she still treated people with courtesy and eventually won public recognition.
In addition, in order to maintain a good reputation, flower leaders also need to bear considerable consumer responsibility.
Including a huge investment in various clothing, food, housing, and transportation, servants and verandas to cultivate flowers.
These costs were borne by Hua Kui themselves, which left them in debt from the start.
Despite the gifts from guests, it is far from enough to cover the expenses.
There are only three ways for Japanese geishas to get out of the industry: retirement, redemption or death.
According to the regulations, Japanese wandering girls can choose to retire and leave the veranda at the age of 28.
However, few can actually find retired women who can start over.
These women may still be burdened with debt.
Most retired women do not have enough savings and have to do menial work in the veranda to make ends meet.
Others choose to become private prostitutes, but due to their age and declining appearance, they can only receive the lowest level of clients, earn little income, and make life more difficult.
A very small number of people may find a marriage partner and lead a so-called "normal" life.
However, even so, it is difficult for them to escape the stigmatized label of "wandering girl".
Many also experience discrimination and even domestic violence.
Not to mention, most of these retired wandering girls have become numb in their hearts after their untimely deaths.
However, Iwasaki Mineko is an exception, and she can be counted as very lucky.
At the peak of 29 years, Iwasaki Mineko, who knew the dangers of the industry, made the decision to retire.
She gave up her brilliant stage career to live in New York with an artist who visited her for three consecutive years.
Iwasaki Mineko flew across the Pacific Ocean with hope and wanted to start a new life in the United States.
However, after Iwasaki arrived in the United States, he discovered that the relationship in the past five years turned out to be a hoax.
She was deeply in love with the artist, but he ultimately failed to divorce his wife as agreed.
Looking back at Japan's national treasure "Hanakui": debuted at the age of 15 and retired at the age of 29, so beautiful that the Queen of England is jealous, so what do you think about this matter?