Sleeping Through the Pain
New maiko had to learn how to sleep without destroying their new hairdo. Maiko received small, hard, raised pillows, called taka-makura, that held the base of her head and neck above her sleeping mat. Her housemates at the okiya would help train her not to move at night, because one slip of the head would crush the hardened hair.Having to re-do the styling process was enough to make a maiko willing to learn how to sleep balanced on the small pillow.
Her housemates, usually senior geisha or her house mother, would lay the pillow down, then pour rice around it. If the maiko slipped and her head fell off the little pillow, the rice would stick to her hair, and she had to have it combed out and set again. That process ensured the maiko quickly learned her new sleeping technique.
