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was a ceremony undergone by a Japanese ''maiko'' (apprentice ''geisha'') to signify her coming of age. When the older ''geisha'' (in charge of the ''maiko's'' training) considered the young ''maiko'' ready to come of age, the topknot of her hair was symbolically cut. During the Edo period, courtesans undergoing ''mizuage'' were sponsored by a patron who had the right of taking their virginity.〔(page 179 ).〕 ''Mizuage'' has also historically been connected with loss of virginity of ''maiko'',〔, page 184 ()〕〔(page 234 )〕 but this practice became illegal in 1959.〔 (page 135 )〕 Afterward, a party would be held for the ''maiko''. According to anthropologist Liza Dalby, ''mizuage'' was an important initiation to womanhood and the ''geisha'' world. ''Mizuage'' gave way to the next stage of training, the senior ''maiko''. Once the ''mizuage'' patron's function (of deflowering the young maiko) was served, he was to have no further relations with the girl.〔Liza Crihfield Dalby. Geisha. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998〕 The money acquired for a ''maiko’s'' ''mizuage'' was a great sum and it was used to promote her debut as a ''geisha'',〔Lesley Downer. ''Geisha: The Secret History of a Vanishing World''. (London: Headline Book Publishing, 2000) Pages 256-266.〕 but this was not considered by geisha to be an "act of prostitution." Mineko Iwasaki, a ''geisha'' that Arthur Golden met while writing ''Memoirs of a Geisha'' described ''mizuage'' in her autobiography as being an initiation party, symbolized on the geisha-to-be by a change in hairstyle rather than the loss of virginity.〔Mineko Iwasaki. ''Geisha, A Life''. (New York: Washington Square Press, 2002)Page 206-210.〕 It is a celebration of the passage of girl (maiko) to woman (geisha). == In fiction == Arthur Golden's novel ''Memoirs of a Geisha'' portrays the ''mizuage'' as a financial arrangement in which a girl's virginity is sold to a "''mizuage'' patron", generally someone who particularly enjoys sex with virgin girls, or merely enjoys the charms of some individual maiko. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「mizuage」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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