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In the 1700s a prostitute named Kikuya, from Fukagawa, began calling herself a geisha and she both sang and played the three-stringed shamisen. Within a few decades the female geishawere performing alongside male geisha and no longer permitted to compete with traditional Oiran, prostitutes. Over time different ranks of geisha emerged and some did offersexual services. The Second World War profoundly altered the world of the Geisha and started their decline.
