GEISHA ARE FAMOUSLY PRIZED AS WIVES... BUT MISTRESSES DO NOT PREVAIL

Chapter 26 of Mineko Iwasaki's book, begins to reveal the progression of a young woman through her teenage years. After two years as a professional dancer, after years of rigorous classes, it was time for her MIZUAGE, the ceremony of moving up. This is the term used elsewhere for the ritual deflowering for which men compete and bid, depicted in the film Memoirs of a Geisha but which Mineko Iwasaki denies happened to her or in her particular house.  She says it is like "sweet sixteen" in the west. Her Okiya (the household she belonged to) paid for her ceremony which cost over $100,000 just for the right kimono, as well as for things like treats and gifts to be given around the neighborhood. The treats handed out include ones that appear to be breasts with pink nipples. (Not considered to be obscene.)  She was seventeen in October of 1967 when she had hers.

On page 5 of this chapter she says that this ceremony tells the community as well as the clients that she is getting near marriageable age and that geisha are "famously prized" as wives.

EXCERPT: ... "One couldn't ask for a more beautiful or sophisticated hostess, especially if one travels in diplomatic or international business circles.  And a geiko (the term her particular house used, rather than geisha) brings with her the cornucopia of connections she has cultivated over her career, which can be very important for ayoung man starting out..."

But the young geiko is also used to having money. 
Page six:

 "I have seen instances where working gieko married for love and basically kept their husbands.  These relationships were rarely successful." ..."What about the women who are the mistresses of married patrons?  Those stories could fill another volume.  The classic take is that of the wife lying on her deathbed.  She calls the geiko to her side and thanks her tearfully for taking such good care of her husband.  Then she dies, the geiko becomes the man's second wife, and they live happily ever after.

It is rarely that straightforward.

I remember one particularly disturbing incident.  Two gieko were having affairs with the same man, a big sake merchant.  They each took it upon themselves to pay uninvited visits on his wife to implore her to separate from him. Caught in the impossible dilemma of the ensuing uproar, the man committed suicide..."