Japan Photo of the Week: Geisha
There are not many icons of Japan that are more famous than cherry blossoms, but one of them is a geisha. While geisha were once as common as convenient stores are now in Japan, the number of real geisha are slowly dwindling away. Actually seeing a real geisha or maiko (a geisha in training) is a very rare experience. While you used to be able to see geisha all over Japan, now, almost all of the geisha left in Japan are in Kyoto (Gion District), which is where I took this picture of a geisha walking down a side street trying to avoid crowds.
Like I previously alluded to, spotting a real geisha in Japan is not very common and when I took this photo I had been walking around Gion for a few hours hoping to catch a glimpse of one. If you are hoping to see a real geisha, the most important thing you need is patience and other other is to go to Gion. If you want more advice on the best place to find real geisha see my personal photo blog. I keep saying “real” geisha because a somewhat common thing to do for tourists going to Kyoto is to be made up as a geisha. This includes the whole deal, make-up, kimono, photo shoot, and if you pay enough money you can walk around Kyoto for an hour or two as if you were a geisha. Sometimes it is hard to tell if what you see is the real thing or not. There are a couple of ways you can tell. First, look at their hair closely, regular people who are made up will usually have fake hair. Second, if they seem to have family or friends walking around with, they are most likely fake. Third, if they are smiling and posing for photos, most likely they are fake… to be honest though, most of the time these fake geisha still make for some nice photos! If you are interested in being made up as a geisha (some places will do men as well), depending on what package you get, it costs about 6000 to 15000 yen (about 50-135 USD) and the easiest way to find a place is to ask your hotel and they should be able to help you find one.
This photograph was taken by Evan Pike. If you would like to see more or buy this photograph, check out the gallery.
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My friend worked at Kiyomizudera as a “maiko” for tourists. In reality she was just a college student getting paid to pretend she was a maiko. These days I always assume maiko around famous Japanese tourist spots are fake.
That said, very beautiful photo. I like the composition.
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Yeah, that is how it is these days! Actually, I got a nice photo of some fake geisha at Kiyomizudera, maybe one of them is your friend? It is from about 3 years ago tho…
Yeah, you can read about that whole touristy dress-up-like-a-geisha experience in Karin Muller’s A Year in Search of Wa. Obviously you can’t tell from the back, but most foreigners’ eyes and noses are dead-giveaways. They probably feel like I did dressing up as a samurai.
Are there any parts of Tokyo that might support legitimate geisha?
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Yeah except I am willing to bet a lot more Japanese tourists do the dress up thing so you can’t really tell by the eyes and nose
you suck dude
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Yeah, sorry if contributed to that comment problem, James – I thought it was my computer.
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Would it be overly picky to note that the term ‘geiko’ is more common for Kyoto geisha?
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By the way, no one has commented on the symbolism of the lone geiko heading down a narrow path into a black future….
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@Turner– There are still some geisha in Asakusa I believe.
@OVER–Yeah you are right. I think geiko is Kansai dialect for geisha so that is commonly used for Kyoto and geisha for Tokyo. Care to elaborate a little more on what you think the symbolism is? I like to see how people interpret my photos…
If the kanji are anything to go by, geiko just means a person who is training to become a geisha.
Literally translated;
芸者 ＝ skilled person
芸子 ＝ skilled child
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And wikipedia proves me wrong. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geiko
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I am not claiming this is what you intended, but if one were to interpret that photo along the lines of the symbolism I suggested, it would be a geiko [geisha, aka geigi 芸妓] walking the narrow path of her highly specialised and minority career to a black future that represents the dying-out of the tradition.
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Considering the length of hanging sash, I think she is Maiko or Hangyoku yet.
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haha, well I didn’t really intend for this stir up a discussion about what everyone knows about geiko, geisha, maiko, etc., but yes if she were already a geiko or geisha than she would not have the hanging sash and all those decorations in her hair.
I was lucky enough to come across a Geisha in Kyoto. It was around 11pm and my boyfriend and I were stumbling back to our guesthouse after a night of drinking in a bar nearby. A car pulled up alongside us and a beautiful Geisha emerged. We asked for a photo and luckily she obliged – not after having to ask the man in the car first if she was allowed first. I am so happy I managed to see her; Geishas are the reason I became obsessed with Japan after reading Arthur Goldern’s book. I didn’t see another Geisha, despite being in Kyoto for a week. I am so glad I had the oppotunity to see her.
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Last time i have seen a geisha was on the zatoichi picture.
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Hi everybody,
I’m looking for people (specially out of Europe) to help me uploading some nice picture to my website.
It’s a website with travel pictures from all around the world. I’ve
started this project just 1 week ago and I have around 260 pics, most of
them from Europe.
If you’re interested: http://www.someworldpics.com
Thanks
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Hi everybody,
I’m looking for people (specially out of europe) to help me uploading some
nice picture to my website.
It’s a website with travel pictures from all around the world. I’ve
started this project just 1 week ago and I have around 260 pics, most of
them from Europe.
If you’re interested: http://www.someworldpics.com
Thanks
Rate this comment:
0 
0