The Meiji Period marked a before and after in the history of geishas. Before the Meiji era, still there were men who worked as geishas. They have always used their skills in different Japanese arts. City geishas (machi geishas) worked independently at parties outside “the please quarters”, while neighborhood geishas (kuruwa geishas) worked within these quarters. Machi and kuruwa geishas were not distinguished in terms of how to entertain: both types of geisha sang, danced and learned other traditional arts. However, the difference was that the incense used to mark the duration of the service was less for the kuruwa geisha than for the machi geisha, since they entertained in places with less crowds and with a more select audience.

The first Karyuukai to be born was Kamishichiken or “The Upper Seven Houses”, as originally there were only seven teahouses and numerous okiya there. To this day, the number of ochaya had risen, while the number of okiya had fallen. Male geisha began to disappear, by the 1800s, female geisha outnumbered them three to one, and the term “geisha” began to be used to refer to women with skills for entertainment, as today.

In 1872, after the Meiji restoration, the new government approved a law liberating “prostitutes (shogi) and geisha (geiko)” ambiguously grouping both professions together. The terms of the law caused controversy, due to the unclear differentiation, with some officials claiming that prostitutes and geisha worked different end of the same profession, and that there would be a little difference in calling all prostitutes “geisha”. Nonetheless, the government maintained an official distinction between both professions, arguing that geisha should not be confused with prostitutes.

When Meiji Restoration started, everything changed. Women were established as the “truly” geishas, new rules were established, in October 1883, geishas in Kyoto formed an organization translated as the “Freedom Association”; they planned to raise money and hold meetings twice a year to which they would invite women speakers such as Kishida Toshiko and other women “who advocate freedom”. During the restoration, geisha became more colourful with more exuberant costumes and hairstyles to demonstrate the power of their Okiya. Geishas paper became more important and gained popularity since more business man and important people assisted to their show of Japanese arts. Additionally, geisha make frequent appearances in newspaper accounts and not merely as spectator or companions of male activists. Some newspapers record geisha performing the “people’s rights dance” (minken odori), which they apparently learned from activist Ueki Emori. One geisha named Aikichi, attended the prefectural assembly and then wrote a letter that was serialized in a Japanese famous newspaper; complaining that geisha were self-suficient and should therefore be considered equal to all others. Why then did the people’s rights newspapers feel free to use disparaging terms such as “cat” and “fox” when referring to geisha in essence “viewing them as slaves”? The newspaper ignored her query.