Dangerous Whispers from the Flower and Willow World
In: Illuminating the Dark Side: Evil, Women and the FeminineSearch for other papers by Senka Suman in
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The women in Japan and China were historically divided into two types: the calm, humble, tame and familiar wife, who belongs to the home domain; and the dangerous, untamed, seductive and entertaining woman, who belongs to the secret pleasure quarter. Although we could expect that the wife has more influence in public, better knowledge or efficient skills, finer conversation and feminine deportment, the situation is quite the opposite – it is the woman who comes from the ‘flower and willow world’, which is the Japanese term for the geisha society, who has all these advantages and powers. Seeing as the male was overjoyed by these feminine seductive powers, one wonders why he designated them for the secret world and not for the official one. In this secret world the woman had full rights to be seductive: to sing, to dance, to talk clever or sweet, to whisper whatever she wants to the most powerful men of that society; she could be the fully feminine woman. Her role was not on the periphery of society; actually she had the main role in this hidden man-only world. Yet in the official public domain all of this was forbidden. Why? Is it because feminine seduction or any kind of woman’s expression of knowledge, passion and power is a dangerous thing to a man? Does it weaken him? Since femininity is also a product of the culture this work examines how this phenomenon is perceived in Japan and China; why are the dangerous women besides kung fu warriors and women healers also geisha? What are their real powers and what are the products of male fantasy and male myths of female supernatural powers?