Timeless beauty: Japanese swimwear model photos from the 19th Century get a helping hand from modern technology

Taken between 1868 to 1912, pictures present geishas as bathing beauties
Photos counter assumption that geishas only wore traditional dress

PUBLISHED: 13:29, 17 January 2013 | UPDATED: 14:03, 17 January 2013

When you think geisha girl you instantly think kimono, china doll make-up, chopsticks in the hair and impractical platform shoes.

But these retouched 19th century photos taken during Japan's Meiji and Taisho eras counter the general assumption that geishas only wore traditional dress.

Taken between 1868 to 1912, the pictures present the geishas as bathing beauties modelling swimwear by the sea.

The Japanese swimwear supermodels of 1868

The retouched 19th century photos taken during Japan's Meiji and Taisho eras counter the general assumption that geishas only wore traditional dress

Taken between 1868 to 1912, the pictures present the geishas as bathing beauties modelling swimwear by the sea

AT WHAT POINT DOES A JAPANESE MAIKO GIRL BECOME A GEISHA GIRL?

Geisha girls are Japanese female entertainers who act as hostesses and who perform various Japanese arts such as classical music, dance and games.

Their apprentices a are called maiko, meaning 'half-jewel', which points to the fact they only receive haldf the salary of a fully-fledged geisha.

It usually takes a year's training before becoming either a geisha or maiko and more prestige is given to the geishas that trained first as maikos.

Photographer and researcher Rob Oechsle (a.k.a. Okinawa Soba), who compiled the collection of geisha photographs, said it was not uncommon for geisha and maiko (their apprentices) to pose in a variety of costumes.

'From roughly the 1870s until the early 1920s, geisha pretty much owned the world of fashion and character modeling throughout the photo studios of Japan,' Oechsle said.

'The photographers needed poised and pretty models who knew how to take direction as they posed in all manner of studio dress... and sometimes undress.'

The pictures were taken between the Meiji period of 1868, to the Taisho period of 1926, during which point photography and postcards were becoming more and more popular in Japan as well as the rest of the world.

'It's not surprising that geishas should be a part of such a massive photographic industry, as they were considered the equivalent of supermodels in Japanese culture at the time,' said Oechsle

'It's not surprising that geishas should be a part of such a massive photographic industry, as they were considered the equivalent of supermodels in Japanese culture at the time,' said Oechsle.

The Meiji era extended from 1868 to 1912 and represented the first half of the Empire of Japan during which Japanese society moved from being an isolated feudalism to its modern form.

In 1912, the Meiji Emperor died and Crown Prince Yoshihito became Japan's new emperor, beginning the Taishō period.

In modern Japan, geisha performers have become a rarity outside of the few established entertainment districts in major cities and hot spring resorts.

Geisha girls are Japanese female entertainers who act as hostesses and who perform various Japanese arts such as classical music, dance and games

This is due to Japan’s changing economy and corporate entertainment policies, which makes high priced traditional geisha entertainment unaffordable. One hundred years ago, there were over 80,000 geisha in Japan. Today the number of working geisha is estimated to be around 1,000.

Last month, Japan’s only male geisha, was revealed in the British press.He is the master of an ‘okiya,’ a geisha house in Tokyo’s Omori port district.

Eitaro is now in popular demand as a stage performer and television personality. Following the death of his mother, he took over his mother’s role as geisha house master and with his sister, Maika, oversees a group of six geisha performers.