Rankings

1. Girls around age 15 begin their life as a shikomi. They work inside the okiya, functioning much as a maid would. They wear their hair in a simple bun and are often seen in yukata or komon featuring a chou chou obi knot (which appears much like a bow).

Image from HERE.

2. As shikomi progress in training they move into the maiko stage. As minarai they don the wareshinobu hairstyle and wear a pinwheel kanzashi in their hair. They paint their face white for the first time, though they pre-dominately use red on their face. They wear kimono with a obi half the length of the maiko's and okobo.

3. Junior Maiko-After passing a difficult exam they go through misedashi. They then gain a Oneesan who mentors them in the ways of the world. Wearing a full length obi which reaches towards the ground, they are the most known out of the ranks often seen in images.

4. Senior Maiko- After 2 years the maiko wear the ofuku style, which places the bun which could be seen on the ware- style higher on the head. The red peice of cloth indicates how close they are to erikae. When they get close to erikae they wear the sakkou hairstyle. 

5. Geisha- After Erikae they become a fully trained geisha or geiko. They may become independent of the okiya and live on their own in some cases. They wear less make-up over time and the shimada hairstyle. Their obi appears to looks like a square and is much shorter than that of the maiko.

Image from HERE.