was a ceremony undergone by apprentice () and some (apprentice geisha) as part of their coming of age ceremony and graduation. For , who had often already lost their virginity, a patron would pay for the exclusive privilege of being a new 's first customer; for who underwent , 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. Before the outlawing of prostitution in Japan, who underwent would see patrons and benefactors bid large sums of money for the privilege of taking their virginity, a sum of money the (the geisha house an apprentice was affiliated to) would take entirely. In the present day, a 's graduation is known as , and is entirely non-sexual, though some older sources – such as the autobiography of Mineko Iwasaki, the geisha that author Arthur Golden used as inspiration for his character of Sayuri in the novel Memoirs of a Geisha – refer to the non-sexual graduation of to geishahood as . , and courtesans as an extension, exist in a wholly non-sexual capacity in modern-day Japan; re-enactment parades are performed by actors, and perform their profession's traditional arts without the inclusion of sex work. In both capacities, the of both (who are merely actors in a parade) and (for whom the role is a profession) do not engage in sex work as part of a 'graduation' out of apprenticeship. History has been long connected with the loss of virginity of a , owing to the fact that some did undergo ceremonies to lose their virginity. for a would also include monetary sponsorship by the patron, intended to support and promote the 's debut to geisha status. Through this sponsorship of the apprentice, a patron would essentially purchase the right to take the 's virginity. The patron would often have no further relations with the young woman in question. In the modern day, is a contentious issue, both within the geisha communities of Japan and elsewhere. The practice was outlawed following the introduction of the Anti-Prostitution Law in 1956, categorised under the "traffic in human flesh". Many geisha who came of age before the passing of the law went through the experience of , and though most geisha had no choice in the patron who took their virginity, with some instances of geisha being sold more