For kamuro, who had often already lost their virginity, a patron would pay for the exclusive privilege of being a new oiran's first customer;[1] for maiko who underwent mizuage, it formed part of a number of ceremonies and occasions used to mark graduation into geishahood, including symbolic changes in hairstyle and official visits to benefactors.
In the present day, a maiko's graduation is known as erikae (襟替え, 'turning the collar [of a kimono]'), and is entirely non-sexual, though some older sources – such as the autobiography of Mineko Iwasaki, the geisha that inspired the character Sayuri in the novel Memoirs of a Geisha by author Arthur Golden refer to the non-sexual graduation of maiko to geishahood as mizuage.
In both capacities, the kamuro of both oiran (who are merely actors in a parade) and tayū (for whom the role is a profession) do not engage in sex work as part of a 'graduation' out of apprenticeship.
Though customers attending geisha parties and banquets generally expect some level of convivial and low-key flirtation, a maiko is likely to be considered off-limits as a younger and more vulnerable participant to such gatherings.
Masuda describes being sold multiple times by her okiya to men, ostensibly for the purposes of taking her virginity, under the pretence that she had not yet lost it.
Despite her personal experiences, Masuda argued against the outlawing of sex work in Japan, explaining that it provided a way for women to make an independent living when chosen as a profession, and through criminalisation, would merely be driven underground.