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I was on immortalgeisha.com's FAQ and one of the questions was "How can I tell a Geisha/maiko apart from a Tayuu/Oiran?"

What is a Tayuu/Oiran?

That's what I thought, but I wasn't entirely sure.

Tayu were high-class courtesans in Japan. Cultural aspects of tayu traditions continue to be preserved to this day.

The Tayu arose in the Edo period, 1600 - 1868. At this time, laws were passed restricting brothels to walled districts set some distance from the city center. In the major cities these were the Shimabara in Kyoto, the Shimmachi in Osaka, and in Edo (present-day Tokyo), the Yoshiwara. These rapidly grew into large, self-contained "Pleasure Quarters" offering all manner of entertainments. Within, a courtesan's birth rank held no distinction but there arose a strict hieirarchy according to beauty, character, educational attainments and artistic skills. Tayu were the highest rank of courtesan or prostitute, and were considered suitable for the daimyo. Only the wealthiest and highest ranking could hope to patronise them.

To entertain their clients, Tayu practiced the arts of dance, music, poetry and calligraphy, and an educated wit was considered essential to sophisticated conversation.

The isolation within the closed districts resulted in the Tayu becoming highly ritualised in many ways and increasingly removed from the changing society. Strict etiquette ruled the standards of appropriate behavior. Their speech preserved the formal court standards rather than the common language. A casual visitor would not be accepted; their clients would summon them with a formal invitation, and the Tayu would pass through the streets in a formal procession with a retinue of servants. The costumes worn became more and more ornate and complex, culminating in a style with 8 or more pins and combs in the hair, and many prescribed layers of highly ornamented garments derived from those of the earliest Tayu from the early Edo period. Similarly, the entertainments offered also were derived from those of the original Tayu generations before. Ultimately, the culture of the Tayu grew increasingly rarified and remote from everyday life, and their clients dwindled.

The rise of the Geisha ended the era of the Tayu. Geisha practiced the common entertainments enjoyed by the people of that time, and were much more accessible to the casual visitor. Their popularity grew rapidly and eclipsed that of the Tayu. The last recorded Tayu was in 1761. The few remaining women still currently practicing the arts of the Tayu do so as a preservation of cultural heritage, rather than as a profession or lifestyle. An easy way to tell a geisha from a tayu is they're obi geisha tie it in the back the tayu tie it in the front

Geisha/maiko are like these people who could do things and made men happy. And sometimes, but not always, did.... explicit things... with their customers. Tayuu and stuff are just whores.

I learned all this from fiction books, so I'm not sure if it's TOTALLY true or not. But. Yeah.

mizuage ceremony is hard to get correct info on i just know at some point in time it was changed

im pretty sure that the whores from wwII were just that, whores, not actual Tayuu and Oirian

but the ladies that were hired by the government to 'serve' the 'barbarians' did often wear kimono and call themselves geisha

The titles Tayuu and Oirian mean much more then prostitute, it was thier rank in the floating cities such as Yoshiwara and Shimbara, they were the highest and most celebrated. They could choose thier customers as to whom they would sleep with, and unlike a lower girl that needed the money to pay off insane debts, a Tayuu could refuse an advance

Actually... There has been woman who wasn't from Japan who became a Geisha.. I actually have the book she wrote on it... *runs to find it*

The book itself is titled 'Geisha' By: Liza Dalby. Little bit on the back "Liza Dalby, as the only foreigner ever to have become an actual geisha, knows more about the subject than I'll ever know..."Arthur Golden.

I haven't read more then a chapter or two, as I got it from Amazon as semester started, so haven't had the time it deserves...

I have to admit, it would be pretty awesome. But the only reason Liza was able to was purely for research. I think it was the Geisha's way of letting everyone know with out saying it, that they are no man's whore. They don't need the money.

Of course they'll take men to their bed, women the world over do, but their reasons are the same as ours.