People today have a dark and negative image on courtesans who lived during in the Edo Period as ruined women, but in days prior to the Muromachi Period, courtesans were rather intelligent women who were strictly trained in singing and dancing by a female controller called Choja, and some of them acquired some culture, so they were sometimes regarded as sacred women and played the role of miko (shrine maiden).
現代人は遊女というと江戸時代の零落した女性が行き着く暗くマイナスなイメージを強く持つが、室町時代以前の遊女はむしろ知識人であり歌舞などの技芸を厳しく長者と言われる元締めのような存在の女性から躾けられ、時には教養も身につけた女性たちで、神聖な存在として巫女の代わりをするようなこともあった。