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Establishment to which a geisha is affiliated

An (置屋) is the lodging house/drinking establishment to which a or geisha is affiliated with during her career as a geisha. The is typically run by the "mother" of the house, who handles a geisha's engagements, the development of her skills, and funds her training through a particular teahouse. Though a geisha is legally required to be registered to an in order to work, and may live there as a trainee, it is not a legal requirement for geisha to live within their
A geisha's engagements at parties, and her lessons in singing, traditional dance, musical instruments and tea ceremony are also booked through her An and its attached teahouse typically has its own "branch" of art names linking its geisha and together, usually through the use of a shared prefix; for example, many of the geisha trained at the Dai Ichi teahouse in Pontochō have names that begin with .

Many geisha, particularly those working in more traditional geisha communities such as those found in Kyoto, live within the they are affiliated with, though some working in other areas of Japan – such as the geisha of Tokyo – are more likely to commute in from their own apartment. However, a geisha will still keep her kimono at the , and will dress there every evening before attending parties and engagements. There may be more than one geisha or living in an at any given time, and the mother of the house may also be an active geisha herself; however, there are no requirements for an to have any geisha at all in order to keep its license as an .

The financial arrangements of a geisha's affiliation with her vary; a geisha may start her career by borrowing everything from her , including room and board and her kimono, and may pay this back over time. Under this system, until a geisha's debt is paid off – a process that takes roughly two years through this arrangement – all of her tips and wages go to the , who then give her an allowance in return. A geisha under this arrangement generally enters into it with an external guarantor, and requires the mother of the house to keep extensive and detailed records. Some owners will not take geisha on under these terms, considering it to be too involved and too much work. Another arrangement may be that a geisha begins her career as an "independent" ("oneself in front"; 自前; jimae) geisha, who buys her own kimono, chooses to live separately from the , and pays only for the fee of affiliation to the house. Geisha who do not begin their career in this manner, but have paid off all of their debts, are also referred to as being .

are usually owned and run by women, who are referred to as "mother" by the geisha and affiliated with the house. These women are commonly former geisha themselves, and were typically raised as geisha by the previous owner of the ; when the owner of an retires, she may name one of her natural daughters – as the daughters of geisha are often raised inside the community – or one of the geisha under her as the heir of the house; in the case of the not being related to the mother of the house, the heir is adopted as the mother's daughter Under this arrangement, a geisha's debts are absorbed by the , with all the money she earns going to the establishment directly as the new owner and proprietor of the house following the permanent retirement or death of her adoptive mother.