Geisha
The first part of training is called "shikomi". When girls first arrived at the okiya, they used to be put to work as maids, or do everything they were told. The work was difficult to "make" and "break" the new girls. The most junior shikomi of the house had to wait late into the night for the senior geisha to return from work, sometimes at as late as two or three in the morning. During that stage of training, the shikomi went to classes at the hanamachi's geisha school. In modern times, that stage still exists, but it is less hard than before. Shikomi now become used to the traditions and dress of the karyūkai ("flower and willow world").