Maiko, Hana and Maneki Neko Button

Maiko is a woman who is in the stage of apprentice geisha training, and is a geisha who works in the entertainment district around Gion, Kyoto, where she performs singing, dancing, and shamisen (a three-stringed Japanese banjo) as a part of her work. Maiko and geigi are mizu-chaya (water tea houses) where tea is served to those who visit shrines or temples or travel along the road, and sake and food are added to those who serve tea or dango (dumplings), and chakumionna (tea-drawing girls) who work at the shop begin to sing and dance. It is said that about 300 years ago, in the Edo period, it started at a water teahouse around Higashiyama where Yasaka-jinja Shrine (then Gion-sha Shrine) in Kyoto was located, and daughters who carried it began to play shamisen (a three-stringed Japanese banjo) and dance, imitating Kabuki plays, and even today, it is still active under strict rules in hanamachi (geisha district) around Gion, Kyoto. Maiko who are usually seen in Kyoto City are experienced maiko disguised as tourists, and are rarely seen outside the geisha districts except in the evening, and even the people of Kyoto and Kyoto rarely see real maiko