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.
