Modern geisha still live in traditional geisha houses called `` okiya '' ( `` geisha house '' ) in neighborhoods named `` hanamachi '' ( `` flower towns '' ) . However , most older geisha who are successful have their own home . Western interest in geisha increased with the 1997 novel and 2005 film Memoirs of a Geisha and the autobiography of former geisha Iwasaki Mineko , titled Geisha of Gion .