First White (Foreign) Geisha
Here is perhaps the world’s first white Geisha, Liza Dalby.
She first went to Japan as a teenager, spending a year with a family in rural Saga City. Liza was the first and only foreign student at Saga University.
After returning and attending Swarthmore College, she encountered the field of cultural anthropology, which ultimately led her back to Japan to research and take on the role of a Geisha. Liza made her debut as Ichigiku.
Technorati Tags: Geisha, Ichigiku, Japan, Liza Dalby, world’s first white Geisha
1 Comment Categories : Culture, Japan
I heard that Liza Dalby did not become a geisha. Liza did not debut, and was not enrolled as a geisha. She did not take lessons in dance with other geisha or do other things that geisha have to do. She went to some banquets dressed up but that does not make someone a geisha.
Sayuki (www.sayuki.net) seems to be the first foreigner to have debuted as a geisha and is quite often in the Japanese media cited as the first white geisha.