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In Liza Dalby's book "Geisha", while talking about onsen geisha, she mentions
various pejorative terms from the general public. She mentions "korobi" (roll-
over, presumably 転び) geisha, and "Daruma" (a doll that tumbles down,
presumably だるま) geisha, both of which I understand the imagery of.

But how does the term "shomben geisha" (小便芸者, I assume) work? Dalby translates
it as "toilet geisha", and jisho.org describes 小便 as a colloquial word for
urine. I understand that it's a derogatory term, with the same ultimate
meaning as the other two terms, but not the imagery involved. Is it because of
the male anatomy used with 小便?

(By the way, Dalby also notes that skilled artists exist in the onsen towns,
sentiments that I'd echo)
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2014-01-27T11:33:05.857
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2021-12-14T02:39:08.987
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question
offensive-words metaphor
How does the derogatory term "小便芸者" work?
I do not claim to know the origin of this particular term [小便芸者]{しょんべんげいしゃ}
but I have reasons to doubt the male anatomy hypothesis.

In the most vulgar kind of Japanese, [小便]{しょんべん} is sometimes added to a noun
like a prefix to express the speaker's hatred or strong disrespect of the
object. The nuance it carries is much worse than "good for nothing". For this
purpose, 小便 is pronounced しょ **ん** べん rather than the dictionary reading しょ
**う** べん.

Examples: 小便[議員]{ぎいん}(Diet member)、小便[役者]{やくしゃ}(actor)、小便[国家]{こっか}(nation)
、小便[飲み屋]{のみや}(bar), etc.

Thus, I would tend to assume that the term 小便芸者 came by this route.
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2014-01-28T00:57:03.793
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2021-12-14T02:39:08.987
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answer
小便芸者 means a poor geisha. Because such geisha often excuses herself from
playing shamisen(三味線) or performing Mai(舞) to fudge on.
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2014-01-28T08:03:59.113
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answer