Harlequin Time...

[mokuyoubi]

So, I signed up for the challenge again this year. This is what I claimed:

The Blonde Geisha

In the ancient Japanese tradition of beauty and grace, sex and erotic fantasies are hidden secrets that only a select few may learn and which are forbidden to foreigners. But when a threat to her father's life puts her own in jeopardy, young Kathlene Mallory is sent to live in safety at the Tea House of the Look-Back Tree, where she is allowed to glimpse inside the sensual world of the geisha.

During the years of her training in the art of pleasuring men, Kathlene's desires are awakened by the promise of unending physical delights, and she eagerly prepares for the final ritual that will fulfill her dream of becoming a geisha--the selling of her virginity. The man willing to pay for such an honour, Baron Tonda, is not the man for whom Kathlene carries a secret longing, but he is the man who will bring ruin to the teahouse and danger to Kathlene, if he is disappointed....

Okay, so this made me want to punch the author so hardcore because GEISHA NEVER HAD SEX WITH THEIR CLIENTS!!! GEISHA WERE NOT PROSTITUTES!!! This misconception came about when Americans came over and saw prostitutes all dolled up, and saw geisha all dolled up, and could not distinguish between the two. BUT GEISHA HAVE NEVER BEEN PROSTITUTES.

I did a bit of research on the author/book, and that just made me rage about the place screaming about baka gaijin. No doubt my housemates thought I meant myself. I mean, all this bitch had to do was look on wikipedia or some shit. And she says she's *been* to Japan and learned all about the culture? Followed a geisha into the teahouse? God, I can only imagine how she must have insulted the poor women and patrons.

Anyway. *sigh* I am going to write this and do it justice, damnit. Starting with titling it "The Boy Oiran." Oiran is, I believe, the term our poor author was looking for Oiran were the high price courtesans during the edo period. Actually, male geisha came out of this tradition, providing entertainment in tandem with the female oiran, and when prostitution was made illegal, the female geisha came around.

So. Three guesses which bandom boy I've given this role to?

Here's a hint. I haven't started writing yet, but I decided to sketch him in all his oiran splendour. It might not look anything like him...










The quality is shit--I sketched this in about twenty minutes on the back of my cell phone contract, and I don't have a scanner. But I have ~plans involving multimedia stuff. It should be fun...

Comments

[okubyo-kitsune.livejournal.com]

not even gonna lie? as soon as i saw the prompt, i thought of you. :3 i am so glad you snatched it uppppp ♥♥♥

[moku-youbi.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks. I hope I can do it justice.

[blindmouse.livejournal.com]

GEISHA NEVER HAD SEX WITH THEIR CLIENT

Really? I think a lot of westerners (uh, by which I mean me) have got their ideas about geisha from Memoirs of a Geisha; the heroine in that book had three men out-bidding each other for her virginity, then had one special client for lengths of time who was the only one she had sex with. Uh, obviously written by a westerner and thus suspect, but I always thought the basic facts were true...

[moku-youbi.livejournal.com]

Just one of *many* reasons why I despise that book. Among others, the fact that he promised to keep her anonymity but didn't, and giving away the secrets of the geisha is a big deal, particularly when the author decides to take liberties with the truth.

I have not read it, because I find it disgusting. I know, however, that he changed the traditional coming of age ceremony from a maiko to a geiko, which entails the cutting of the hair.

Regarding the loss of virginity...a geisha was not forbidden from having sex with her clients, although it was not part of the exchange between them. Some might have lifelong relationships with a man and never have sex with him. It was up to them, outside of their professional relationship, to decide. The idea of bidding off a geisha's virginity goes back further, before WWII, and it was not the true geisha that did this, but prostitutes who dressed and acted like geisha. There should be a distinction made. So, a young maiko becoming a geiko did not have her virginity sold. However, at that age she would take on a patron who would essentially support her the rest of her life. She would have others, but this one would take on all the considerable costs of her wardrobe and lifestyle. If, in return, she gave away her virginity, it was up to her.

What I mean by never had sex with their clients was that it was not a financial/business thing. No matter how it may seem. A geisha would not be threatened with loss of her job, and client would be disgraced if he left her because she would not have sex with him. That was not what it was about...

Ugh, now that I've written a book. Mostly I'm super annoyed because, even if they did have sex, it was not in the way/for the reasons the book describes. Geisha were not *trained* in how to pleasure men. They were trained in the arts and conversation to entertain.

[blindmouse.livejournal.com]

Wow. Thank you for that! I'm a little amazed I haven't come across more vitriol about that book. I read it as a teenager, and I just remember how respectable and literary it was regarded as being - at least, that was how it appeared to a fourteen year old. I had a bit of a mamoth grudge against it because I managed to forget between the intro and the first chapter that it was fiction rather than a true memoir, and only realised again at the end and had to reinterpret everything all over again, but ... yeah, I thought it was sensationalised but not academically and culturally bankrupt.

[moku-youbi.livejournal.com]

lol, yeah, sorry. I didn't mean to come off as if I was angry at you or something. It's just the damn book. And the thing is, you're not alone in thinking it is a respectable and literary work, because *most* of the Western world regards it as such. The misconceptions about geisha are many and long-standing, and unfortunately I don't believe they'll be overcome anytime soon. But yeah, until a few years ago, *I* didn't know the truth about Memoirs, and with the movie, I don't know if people ever will.

[kaytvengeance.livejournal.com]

I'm probably being thick, but who is the pic of? My first thought was Ryan, but I don't really know.

I really liked the sound of that prompt when I read them all. Who would be this Baron dude? And the actual object of desire?

Was it for this last year that you did that pirate fic? The time-travel one?

[moku-youbi.livejournal.com]

Lol, it's okay. If I hadn't drawn it, I probably couldn't tell. It's Spencer, and though I studied a lot of pics of him to make it, I don't think it came across very well...

I'm thinking the Baron dude will be an OC, because it makes the most sense for him to be Japanese. Although, lol, I could have Alex Suarez play him, since he's CS's token Asian.
But the actual object of desire will be Brendon.

Yeah, that was the pirate fic.

[doll-revolution.livejournal.com]

i'm thinking it's ryan because of the twist of the mouth.

sucks about the prompt, though. grrrrrrr!

not going to lie, though: i am TOTALLY looking forward to see what yo do with it. *g*

[moku-youbi.livejournal.com]

Nope, it's Spence, though after the fact, I can see that as a sort of Ryanish expression. It was more the attitude of this characterisation of Spencer that I was trying to convey. He has to lower his eyes, of course, so people don't notice as quickly that they're blue, but while other people might think he's doing it out of deference, he knows better, hence the smirk. IDK.

I'll fix the prompt. I'll make it *better*!