Memories of some Geisha

Trip Start Sep 10, 2008
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Trip End Sep 03, 2009


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Where I stayed
(Kyoto hotels)

Flag of Japan  , Kinki,
Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Kyoto, an icon of Japan famous, for the streets of Gion, the roaming ground of Geisha through the small winding streets amongst the teahouses. Nowadays, the streets are occupied more by the gawking tourists and taxis that squeeze their way down streets that quite clearly were not built for cars and dodging round the pedestrians a little too close for comfort. Geisha (which are actually technically Maiko - the traditional white face paint is only worn by these apprentice Geisha), can still be seen wondering around the back streets of Gion, and if you are lucky, you can spot them. They stumble along the street in ridiculously high platform sandals that the Spice Girls would have been proud of. Hang on a minute, stumble along? Maiko are meant to the epitome of elegance aren`t they?! Come to think of it, why are some of them only wearing the standard sandals, normally worn with dress Kimonos?

That would of course be because most of the Maiko/Geisha seen wondering the streets are not Maiko/Geisha at all, but in fact Japanese girls who have paid to dress up for the day and wonder around the streets after having a small photo session My bed for the night
My bed for the night
 . A lot of people, (mainly foreigners), are fooled by the disguise and happily snap away, telling all their friends they have seen a Geisha (which, like I said before, are actually Maiko!). Posters on the subways and street advertise this service at fairly high, but perhaps reasonable prices considering the value of the kimonos and accessories and the time it takes to dress someone in all 15 layers.

I saw quite a few of these girls stumbling rather coyly though the streets after the assistant makes the final touches to their wigs. It is still a fantastic sight, the luxurious layers of kimono and stunning flower hairpieces that alone retail for hundreds of pounds add a touch of authenticity to the streets. However, it is actually still possible to see a real Maiko/Geisha in Kyoto. Wondering along to the convenience store at night, I saw a real Geisha wearing deep blue in one of the Rickshaws with an older gentleman of the business variety. He was quite clearly her client and as it was night, all the Geisha dress up shops had closed so this confirmed that she was a genuine Maiko. Unfortunately, I didn`t manage to get a photo, but she looked very much like the girls in costume in the other photos I have.

And so for the rest of the city. Nature is never quite perfect enough for the Japanese it would seem. In the traditional gardens that surround most of the temples and shrines, ponds and lakes are edged delicately and subtlety with rocks. Trees are propped up with stilts to hold them in the impossibly balanced positions they`ve been trained to grow into. Every branch is tied with string into the perfect position to a stake suspended from its cone-shaped frame. This place is stunning. Although I could never quite get over the fact it was a city, for me the temples of Nikko had more attraction because they were on the edge of a town and surrounded by forrest Yasaka Shrine
Yasaka Shrine
 . Still, the impact of seeing a thousand Buddhas all lined up in seven rows or a pavilion totally coated in gold is incredible. I decided to visit a shrine where you can walk though thousands of thousands of Torri (prayer gates, usually red or stone) through a forrest which turned out to be almost as frustrating as it was amazing. Of all the days to pick to see this, I went on New Years day, which is possibly the biggest day of the year for the Buddhists, being the day they come to pray for the first time in the year. In of course, the main city they come to do this, in one of the main shrines. One the way there, I managed to pick the one entrance that everyone was using to exit, and so had to walk against a stream of huge crowds for about 10 minutes just to get there. Nice one Holly.

Another thing I have learnt about huge Japanese crowds, other than the fact they are very orderly and fairly quiet, is the fact that they walk very, very, very slowly. So slowly its painful. There are frequent stops. Therefore walking through what is essentially a corridor with thousands of Japanese people is not the most fun you can have on a Sunday afternoon. Add to this the fact that all the maps of the area are labeled exclusively in Japanese, with no helpful pictures to where you might actually be or want to go, and that the torris seem to stretch on for miles, I started to go slightly mad. Lanterns at Yasaka shrine
Lanterns at Yasaka shrine
 At least in the street you are accompanied by traditional Japanese music (that is, when you can actually hear it over the traffic). Most of the walk was steep uphill. There was an amazing view over Kyoto from the top, but at this point I was more concerned about which of the 5 paths I was now meant to take to get out of the Torris and back to the temple. Of course, the quickest way was back the way I'd just been walking for the last hour or so.

When I finally escaped into the even more crowded streets. I was hungry by this point. As I knew I wouldn't reach a shop selling food for at least another hour, I decided to get some noodles from a street vendor. Not the wisest I know, but I've been ok so far, and assumed that the hygiene standards would have been a lot better than some of the other cafes I've eaten in. My stomach didn't agree and I threw up at 4 in the morning. I had to delay my departure into Tokyo for a few days, but was very lucky that my hostel had bed for me. I actually quite enjoyed taking it easy for a couple of days, watching DVDs. And it didn't seem to be full on food poisoning at all, I wasn't really ill after that. A lucky escape.
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