Sakkou hairstyle

Around the age of 21, or, when a girl has been a maiko for about four/five years, preparations are put into place for the maiko to become a geiko, a happening which is known as eri-kae. One to two weeks before this ceremony, the maiko wil start wearing her hair in sakkou style. Sakkou or sakkoumage, formally called "sakikougai" or "sakikougai-mage", is the last hairstyle of a maiko-san, done with her own hair.

Sakkou was also the hairstyle of a newly-married woman in the Edo Period.