Geisha start out training at a very young age. The girls are usually sold into slavery by their families for money. Before becoming a real geisha one must go through vigoruos training. Some of the training occurs at a school, where the girls learn to dance, sing, and play instruments. More training occurs at the compounds they live at.
The life of a geisha is extremely tough. Once they finish their schooling they begin to enterian men in there respected villages. Their afternoons consist of the dressing process. They must pick out a kimono and then begin putting on all of their make-up. The make-up is a heavy white powder placed all over the girls face and then colored make-up is placed in other specific areas.
After the geisha are dressed they begin their long night out entertaining. The geishas go from party to party dancing, singing, and playing their instruments. Most people also think that the geisha’s perform sexual act for the men, but this is simply untrue. There probably are some geishas that have performed sexual act for people, but that is not in the geisha job description. The entertaining last until all hours of the night and then the geisha come back home and go to bed.
Today geishas are few and far between. It is now a voluntary service, the girls are no longer sold to the directors of geishas. If you want to learn more about geishas I highly recommend you read Memiors of a Geisha by Arthur Golden and The movie Memiors of a Geisha. Both the book and the movie give great insight into the life of geishas.
Source
http://gojapan.about.com/cs/japanesegeisha/a/geisha1.htm
