Geisha in their Later Years
Some geisha retired soon after her mizuage, thanks to her danna. Others continue for decades, working into their later years, such as Ikuko Akasaka, an 83-year-old geisha in Tokyo’s geisha distric. Akasaka has over fifty years of geisha service. In 2018, Yuko Asakusa became the oldest geisha still working at 94 years old. She started when she sixteen. The 94-year-old became highly sought after (and highly paid) to entertain politicians and wealthy businesspeople seeking a talented and well-experienced geisha.
Asakusa is concerned about the future of the profession, with so few new maiko. In 1990, Tokyo’s six districts still had hundreds of working geishas, the Akasaka district had 120 alone. Now all six districts have roughly 230 geishas. When Yuko Asakusa started in 1964, there were 400 working geisha in her Tokyo district, “so many I couldn’t remember their names” she told CNN. In 2020, there were twenty.
