mizuage

Now, mizu means "water" and age means "raise up" or "place on"; so that the term mizuage sounds as if it might have something to do with raising up water or placing something on the water.

Memoirs of a Geisha Golden, Arthur, 1957- 1997

She carefully embellishes my almond latte mix with a Vesuvius Rosetta, her lithe motions as choreographed as a geisha's mizuage.

Latte Art Ed Higgins 2011

For example, all apprentice geisha go through something they call mizuage, which we might call,

Arthur Golden - An interview with author 2010

But one crucial scene - the auctioning of Sayuri's virginity, a practice described by Golden as mizuage, which occupies a key narrative point in the very middle of the book - is according to Iwasaki completely fictional; she stresses that there is absolutely no element of prostitution at all to the geisha system, at least as she knew it in the 1950s.

April Books 11) Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden nwhyte 2009

On the other hand, after her mizuage, a first-class geisha won't make herself available to men on a nightly basis.

Arthur Golden - An interview with author 2010

At her mizuage ceremony, the topknot is symbolically cut to denote her transition from girlhood to young womanhood and she assumes a more adult hairstyle.

Geisha, A Life Mineko Iwasaki with Rande Brown 2002

A young oiran also underwent a ritual called a “mizuage” but hers consisted of being ceremoniously deflowered by a patron who had paid handsomely for the privilege.

Geisha, A Life Mineko Iwasaki with Rande Brown 2002

This alternative definition of the word “mizuage” has been the source of some confusion about what it means to be a geisha.

Geisha, A Life Mineko Iwasaki with Rande Brown 2002

After the mizuage ceremony, the next major rite of passage in the life of a maiko is her erikae ceremony, or “turning of the collar.”

Geisha, A Life Mineko Iwasaki with Rande Brown 2002

I asked Mama Masako if I was supposed to ask my customers to pay for the expenses of the mizuage ceremony.

Geisha, A Life Mineko Iwasaki with Rande Brown 2002