In the day's passingShadows mark the memories
Burning with the sun
お久しぶり。 すみません、 ぼくはめっちゃ遅いな。 ごめんなさい! さいきん、私達は忙しすぎる。 今日、芸者むけを言いたいんです。 この写真はぎおんの芸者ですね。 ぎおんのさくらまつりの茶の湯です。 昔から、 このポストを考えている。 アメリカでは芸者がいません。 それから、 彼女はトテモ面白い。 それゆえに、このポストはながくてむずかしいとおもいます。 それから、 英語だけ使うかもしれません。
For any Westerner one of the most elusive, confusing, and mysterious aspects of Japanese culture is the Geisha. A lot of the confusion comes from trying to put a Western perspective on a strictly Japanese phenomenon. My experience with Geisha is very similar to most Americans. I don't have any! I've been in the same room as one, and I've read a few books. So, while I would like to think I have a special insight, I'm afraid I still view the topic as a foreigner.
On the other hand, it's hard to have a discussion about Japanese culture, Kansai, Kyoto, or anything Traditional Japanese without talking about them. So, in the next few posts I'll try to tackle the Geisha.
First I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge the expert. Beyond my own personal experience my primary source of research in the topic is Liza Dalbys book "Giesha", first published in 1983. -see footnote. The Author is the hands down expert on the topic. (Any page number reference is a footnote to this book.)
My first meeting with a Geisha was rather one sided.... Well, okay it really wasn't a meeting at all. The photo above is documentation of that 'encounter'. During the Cherry Blossom Festival in Gion I went to the dances put on in Gion Corner. These are yearly dances put on by the Gion area Geisha Houses. Before hand one can join a 'tea-party' and be served by Geisha. Well, maybe the high profile businessmen sitting in front of me were served by Geisha / Maiko... I on the otherhand was served tea made in the kitchen!
While it was by no means a true Tea Ceremony' it was very interesting. The woman who prepared the tea moved with an elegance I had never seen. While she prepared the tea, or even just set the water ladle down on the tetsubin (iron pot) it was stunning. A refined motion that was hard to imagine came from a person.
Then came the dances. They were phenomenal. The music, dancing, and colors, were so different than anything I had experienced. For my first visit to Japan, it was an incredible experience.
My second experience with a Geisha was just a bit different. I was walking down a street in downtown Kyoto. It was packed full of people. There were many Japanese tourists in town for the Cherry Blossom Viewing. Most were middle aged and older. It was cool because most women and some men were wearing Kimono. Now, while walking through the throngs of people I saw a 20/30 something women in a Kimono. The Kimono was plain and her hair was long and combed straight. What caught my attention (and my wife's) was the way that she moved. I can't explain it completely. It was almost as though she had mastered walking, and the rest of us were just crawling. The motion of her body was scripted, rehearsed, played out, and encored.
I don't remember if other people in the area noticed her. However, I remember that she was not one of us. She was somehow different. Seeing a Geisha out in public was an experience.
Kyoto has several Geisha districts and has the most Geisha in the Country. Dalby talks about the decline of Geisha during the later half of the 20th century. Kyoto Geisha however, after the decline have reinvented themselves as a tourist destination. They became part of the identity of Kyoto. Part of the cultural identify of Japan. Using this cultural currency they are expanding their ranks into a healthy and lucrative society.
Meeting a Geisha is no easy task. Not only is it rather expensive. (Something I'll never be able to afford) but it is also a members only engagement. Not only do you have to have the cash, you need the connections. One must be introduced to a Geisha through a trusted customer.
This isn't to say you can't book a meeting on the internet through a tourist agency, or watch one serve tea to a group of 40 in Gion.... but you get what you pay for.....
We'll talk some more on Geisha here in subsequent posts... This isn't just something we want to cram into one. So in the mean-time, take a walk through Pontocho or Gion and keep your eyes peeled.
Look at the Amazon Page on 'Geisha' here.
"Geisha"; Liza Dalby, 1983 2008; University of California Press.
All photo's, original works, and comments are my personal property. Please be respectful of the effort I've taken.
Your comments are welcome, be polite:
No throwing pebbles in my pool of zen.
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