Well, the weather may have temporarily turned, but I’ve still been having a fab old time in beautiful Kyoto, most recently exploring the city’s geisha traditions past and present.

To set the scene a little bit, just before the rain kicked in, I hit the old town areas of Ninen-Zaka and Sannen-Zaka (meaning ‘Two Year Hill’ and ‘Three Year Hill’ respectively, the years referring to the ancient imperial years when they were first laid out).

As you can see, there was no shortage of tourists – both Western and Japanese – decked out in kimonos and/or formal traditional dress here, and it’s very much ‘thing’ in this neighbourhood to get togged up and have your photos professionally done against the historic backdrop of the area. In fact, there are places that will kit you out in full-on geisha (or maiko) garb – think kimono, wig, make-up and all. Now if – and I do mean if – I were ever to indulge that particular little whim, best believe I would never be so foolish as to post any of the photographic results on a public forum (far too sensitive ground in these oh-so-fevered times…). All I will say on that front is that if I had done anything of that particular nature, it would very likely have represented the hands-down best thing I’d done in Japan to date, as well as being possibly the most beautiful that I’ve ever felt in my life before too (and that includes on my own wedding day…).

Anyway, moving swiftly on, let’s take a look at some real geisha instead. In the afternoon, I went to the Gion-kōbu Kaburenjo Theater to observe a Japanese tea pouring, followed by a performance of the Miyako Odori (translated as “Dances of the Capital”). The latter is basically a musical and theatrical tribute to the four seasons, performed by about 60 geiko and maiko (a geiko being another Kyoto word for geisha and a maiko being a geisha in training). Somewhat counter-intuitively at first sight, the geisha actually has the simpler make-up and attire, while the maiko gets to rock the snazzier kimono and bling-bling hair pieces. This is apparently a reflection of the fact that the geisha, as the consummate professional, has no need of such outer adornments, while the maiko as a trainee is essentially compensating for her comparative lower-level skillset by means of external fashion and accessories (and I’m sure we’ve all met someone like that before too…).

The Miyako Odori had a no photography rule, which I personally thought was a bit rich – I mean, what the hell did I pay best part of forty quid to get in for, if not to photograph some real-life frikkin’ geishas…?? (Sorry, that sounded terribly incel of me right there *gives head minor wobble*). Hence the photos and vids that I did take being a little bit on the furtive side – but hopefully enough to give you the gist here…

Of the performance itself, I suppose all I can say on this front is that geisha performance represents something of an acquired taste…? A visual spectacle for sure, and the costumes were stunning, but, as with a lot of these things, was pretty much reflective of a time well before Netflix, when entertainment was basically just that – shall we say – little bit more rudimentary all round. But hey, at least I’ve done something vaguely cultural / artistic while I’m here (unless you count the Poo Museum, which quite frankly I absolutely do…).

Anyway, on a similar theme, while in Ninen-Zaka, I also went to a tea ceremony – or at least a highly abridged version of the 4 hour ‘real deal’. Personally I thought this was really interesting to learn about – plus I got a matcha and a sweet out of it too, which always helps. I can’t remember all the details, but it will come as no great surprise here that the tea ceremony, like most traditional Japanese customs, is highly refined in nature – almost exquisite in its encapsulation of nuance, precision, poise, delicacy and finesse, with every move, every gesture being imbued with deeper meaning and significance.

While I realise all the above is not necessarily reflective of the realities of modern-day Japan outside of the tea room or the theatre etc., there is still undeniably a clear element of refinement, respect, subtlety and sophistication woven into the fabric of daily life here, that does go some way towards making up the day-to-day social niceties and norms. It does make me seriously wonder what the Japanese must think of us gaijin… In contrast, we must come across as giant, ungainly, ungraceful heffalumps, with our unsophisticated manners, loud voices, giant doorstep sandwiches and (in the Brits’ case) tendency to swig builders’ tea from a giant Sports Direct mug. When stacked against the Japanese, in short, culturally speaking we’re positively Neanderthal by comparison…

Anyway, enough of my musings for now and back to Ninen- and Sannen-Zaka. Of course, in this tourist-saturated neck of the woods, there were also souvenirs a-plenty on sale literally everywhere you looked. Now, I wouldn’t normally go round photographing tourist tat, I hasten to add, but some of these were so damn kawaii it hurt – hence taking a bit of a photographic selection of various memorabilia here, rather than giving into the very sore temptation to simply buy them all instead (which I still very well might…!).

And, on a completely unrelated note, bad weather is also great for eating! I’ve been working my way around the local Nishiki market, and also had my long awaited Kyoto kaizeki dinner yesterday evening too – but more on the above in the next entry…

In the meantime, I’m continuing to keep a trusty eye out out for glimpses of the weird and wonderful on my travels… That’s me with Totoru (I didn’t know who he was either till this trip); some of the monsters over on Yokai Street; a giant crab on the side of a building and… well… my guess is as good as yours on the rest!

Anyway, that’s plenty to be going on with from me for now – off to re-read Memoirs of a Geisha as we speak! In the meantime, sayonara for the moment…