Page:Sketches of Tokyo Life (1895).djvu/85

Rh her term of service expires and she leaves the house if it is not to her taste. On the other hand, the little kakaye’s life is a hard one, for she is condemned to the drudgery of a scullery-maid if she shows any proneness to tea-grinding.

The geisha’s earnings are of two kinds. The first is the gyoku, which is her regular charge for entertainment. She never receives it directly from her guest, for it is always put down in the tea-house bill. The rate of payment is by time; and the charge in first-class quarters is twenty-five sen per half-hour. The time is supposed to be measured by the burning of a joss-stick, which is calculated to take half an hour; but, as a matter of fact, no one takes the trouble to burn joss-sticks or to look at the clock, and the time is put down at the fancy of the tea-house accountant. A whole evening is usually assumed to be covered by the burning of four joss-sticks. As the time is thus left uncertain and the tea-house mistress is seldom guilty of undercharging, there is often a great discrepancy in the calculations of the tea-house and the geisha-house, in which case the excess is always swept into the tea-house till. But there are not a few teahouses that forget to pay the geisha their joss-stick accounts which are made up at the end of every month; and the geisha, knowing the customs of these houses, does not put false hopes on their payment. Her income is mostly derived from the gratuities of her guests. These gratuities are supposed to be given by the guest of his own will and accord; but practically the custom has become an unwritten law which is invariably observed. In first-class quarters, the traditionary law has put such douceurs at one yen each; but the geisha’s gratitude is only half-hearted at the sum. A popular geisha is called to several houses in the course of a single day or evening. She may appear at a party for half-an-hour or less when her legitimate charge is only twenty-five sen; but as the gratuities must be given even if she puts in only a few