Newbie with some questions

[Redfire]

I happen to be doing research for a Usagi Yojimbo fanfic I'm working on and I can use some help following these questions:

Can geisha have relationships outside her occupation?

I am really unsure about this question for it had been answered before but now I am just a little confused.

Is it possible for a samurai to marry a geisha?

What if a child was born to a samurai clan and happens to be female? Is it likely that she may learn the ways of the samurai like every other child or can it be male only?

Can the female child only be a descendant of a person who had been geisha before? (Ex: Grandmother, Aunt, Sister, Mother and so on) or is there any other specific reason they can join a geisha clan?

[Thomas Froehling]

Hello,
I have to admit that I'm not an expert in the fields of social interaction between geisha and samurai, but I found this site that might be helpful; especially if you want to have a deeper look into what geisha actually are.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geisha

Some of your questions might be answered by this article.

I'm a bit confused by your last question: to begin with, I doubt that there is something like a geisha clan; they (the geisha) seem to be loosely organized and their education in given in residential schools (at best).

Given that traditional geisha are highly reputable (so their social status is not neccessarily lower than samurai's status) and that a rich family tradition is of utmost importance, I think it would be possible for a samurai to marry a geisha (She would have to retire, then; See article)

Hmmm, the role of women in feudal Japan...

Ok, we might have heard about Tomoe Gozen,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomoe_Gozen

but she is by far not a typical example of Japanese women...

Well, Wikipedia might be able to help here again...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_samurai

I hope to be of service here; and welcome to the Dojo, btw.

[Redfire]

Thank you. I apologize if if my question confused anyway. I shouldn't type "clan" instead I should put it in "group."