Onna Geisha

1. Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
2. Turn to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post that sentence along with these instructions in your LiveJournal.
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

"In 1751, some customers in a Shimabara brothel were surprised when a female drum-bearer (onna taiko-mochi) pranced into their party." --Geisha, by Liza Dalby

(<-- The above being part of the bit where she explains that the first Geisha were actually male, up until this point. This woman was referred to as a Geiko--which I'm pretty sure translates to "Art-child"--and the term is still used in Kyoto, as opposed to Geisha, to this day. It's a really interesting book; I highly recommend it to people interested in that kind of thing. Ms. Dalby was the first non-Japanese woman to become a Geisha, so it has a lot of inside information.)