Mizuage
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Mizuage (水揚げ, lit. "hoisting from water") was a ceremony undergone by a Japanese maiko (apprentice geisha) to signify her coming of age. When the older geisha training her deemed the maiko ready to come of age, the topknot of her hair was symbolically cut. Afterward, a party would be held for the maiko.
The book Memoirs of a Geisha portrays the mizuage as a financial arrangement. The maiko would find many interested and wealthy buyers to bid on her virginity so the maiko could fully become a geisha. However, this is a common misperception of the ceremony. This was a ceremony that oiran would typically go through, which led to the misperception that a geisha was akin to these courtesans.
After the proceedings were finished, the maiko was permitted to "turn her collar." This meant that she could now wear the white collar of a geisha instead of the red worn by apprentices. Her hairstyle would also be changed to the "ofuku," worn by older women, from the 'split-peach' style (momoware), one of the traditional marks of a maiko.
