Busy season

This season we are very busy because many companies, associations and other types of groups hold their new year parties.

To give you an example, several days ago, I had to work 9 hours.
My day started in the early morning I had a "Narimono", Japanese drum lesson.
After that, I had 3 ozashiki parties, and in addition, after the third ozashiki party. my customers took me along to an after party.

Usually, on Sundays and public holidays, I'm off. However this month, I worked almost every Sunday.

Nevertheless, my geisha sisters said to me that this year is not so busy compared with previous years.
They said that until last year, they even worked at afternoon ozashiki parties everyday, not only evening ozashiki parties.
However this year we have been working mostly in the evening.
In addition, they said that the number of occasions, in which customers gave us tips is decreasing.

I think there are 2 reasons for this.
First, it's one influence of the economic downturn.
Second, it's a result of the aging of our customers.

Some customers said to me that these days, when their company held end of year parties, they didn't hold new year parties.
Also, some of them said to me that when they were younger, they had after parties in which they also called geisha.
However now that they are old men they go home straight after the main parties.

Certainly in January I was very busy, however in February my service haven't been reserved everyday. So I'm a bit worried.

This season I handed my "Senzya-fuda"(千社札), geisha name card, to many customers.
I hope they will remember me, and call me to their ozashiki parties.

My debut as a dancer

I started to receive dance lessons last December.

I'm not permitted to play the shamisen alone yet at ozashiki parties because my geisha mother said to me that my skill as a solo shamisen player is not good enough.

However I want to be a "geisha", who can perform various traditional "geisha" arts, not just a hostess, so I started to practice traditional Japanese dance.

However, when my geisha family went to the Spa Resort Hawaiians last December and we received a Tahitian dance lesson, everyone laughed at my dance style.
They said that my dance style was funny.

My geisha mother said to me that it might be hard for me to do traditional Japanese dance well, because the ability needed to do Tahitian dance and traditional Japanese dance is the same.

I was shocked by what she said, so I have been practicing to dance very hard everyday since I started to receive dance lessons.

At the end of December, she checked my dance and gave me some advice.
She also wanted me to dance at the ozashiki parties, so she said to me that she would make me into a good dancer by the end of January.

In the middle of January, she checked my dance again.
I got tense.
While she was playing the shamisen, she checked my dance form.
She and I knew that my body is not perfectly balanced since the pelvis on my right side is higher than the left side. So I felt that she checked my form strictly.

However when I finished dancing, she said that my form was beautiful, and that she would permit me to dance at the ozashiki parties.
In addition, she gave me a new Japanese fan.
I was really glad.

That night, I danced at an ozashiki party.
After that party, I also danced several times at other parties.
The guests of the parties said to me that I could dance well and they asked me how long I had been dancing.
They were surprised by my relatively short experience.

One thing I realized is that the space and condition for dancing in each restaurant is different.

For example, when I danced for the first time at an ozashiki party, the space was very small.
On the second occasion, the floor was very sticky.
And at an ozashiki party last night, there was a gap in the floor on the stage.
I have to practice harder in order to be able to dance well in all conditions.

The preparation of "Obake"(お化け)

The "Obake"(お化け) is an annual fancy‐dress event in "Karyukai"(花柳界), the geisha world, which has a long history since the Edo-period.

Let me explain about the "Obake".

On a day in February, geisha wear fancy‐dress and entertain their customers with unusual entertainment. For example, flamenco, traditional Korean dance and so on.

In Japan, on "Setsubun"(節分) day, Feb 3rd, we scatter beans in order to drive away the evil spirits.

In the "Karyukai", around "Setsubun" day, geisha masquerade (Bakeru, 化ける) in fancy-dress in order to drive away their customers' evil spirits.

In Hachioji, the "Obake" event will be held on Feb 24th and 25th.

When I saw some pictures of previous "Obake"events, I was excited, because I like such interesting events.

In the "Obake" events, the geisha go around in groups.
This year, the "Obake"groups consists of only 2 people.
I'll pair up with the eldest geisha sister.

When we traveled to the Spa Resort Hawaiians in Dec, she sat next to me on the bus, and we enjoyed watching some music clips which I had downloaded from YouTube.

She liked one of "Issei-fubi-sepia" (一世風靡セピア)'s videos, who are one of the most famous J-pop bands. So we decided to do one of their dances at the "Obake" event.

In fact, I really like the eldest geisha sister, because she is openhearted and her dance is beautiful.
So I'm very happy to pair up with her.

On Dec 30th, I visited her apartment and we made arrangements for our performance at the "Obake" event.

Since each performance is limited to about 5 minutes, we thought that we would combine some types of performance, not just dance, so that it would be like a short show.

At her apartment, we searched for some good ideas on the Internet. We also searched for suitable costumes.

However we realized that it was very difficult to create a good performance choreography from scratch.

After the new year holiday, we got together again, and practiced dancing together.
Beforehand she and I practiced dancing alone at our apartments, however we also realized that "Issei-fubi-sepia"'s dance was difficult.

Now the time left until the event is about one month, so we have to practice more.
In addition, we still have to decide our costumes, edit the music and create an interesting short story.

As the matter of fact, this month is the busiest month of the year, so we don't have enough time to prepare for the "Obake".
However I''m looking forward to my first "Obake"event.

Hatsuharu no Mai - the Hachioji geisha's new year event -

After the new year holidays, a new year event, called "Hatsuharu no mai" was held.
It was an outdoor geisha event in conjunction with the neighborhood association, which everyone could enjoy free of charge.

It was the second time for me to perform the shamisen outside in front of a large audience.
However this time it was harder to perform, because it was too cold.

In December, we all decided that which music we would perform at the event.
So I practiced some songs which I would perform during the new year holidays.
By the way, In Hachioji, the geisha takes their new year holiday from Dec 30th to Jan 3rd.

The new year holidays ended all to soon.
The day before the "Hatsuharu no mai", we checked and cleaned the float on which some shamisen players would perform.

After checking the float, my geisha mother, the main shamisen player and we had the last joint practice session. At that time, I couldn't imagine that it would be so hard to perform at the event the next day.

The event day came.

Even though the starting time was 1:30pm, we gathered at the "Okiya" around 10:30am in order to put on our make up and kimonos. After finishing our preparation, we also prepared the microphones and speakers etc.

While I was getting the event place ready, my hands rapidly became cold, and I realized that it's difficult to perform outside on such a winter's day.

After preparing the place, we went back to the Okiya to wait for the starting time.
My geisha sister and I prepared hot water bottles in order to heat our hands during the event.

Finally the starting time came.
A large audience gathered to see the geisha performance even on such a cold day.
Again I felt it was the important event.

While I was playing the shamisen, I couldn't feel how I was holding the "Bachi", plectrum because of the terrible cold.
My geisha sister, who danced, also said that she felt like she was going to drop her "Sense", fan.

At that event, some members of the neighborhood association helped us. I remembered some of them. I felt glad that they also remembered me.

After the event, my geisha mother and some of my geisha sisters caught colds, however since this month is the busiest, we have to take care of ourselves.

Housecleaning and the end of year party with my geisha family

At the end of the year, there are 2 events in my geisha household.
One of them is complete housecleaning of the "Okiya", geisha house, and the other is our end of year party with my geisha mother and geisha sisters.

As our "Okiya" is a big house, it's tough to do thorough housecleaning throughout.
Since there are 8 people in my geisha family, including my geisha mother, we shared the work.

I took charge of cleaning the second floor with 3 other geisha sisters.

As the matter of fact, not only is the "Okiya" a big house, but it is also very old and made of wood, so it was very cold when we were doing the housecleaning because stopped the air conditioners.

In addition, I'm sensitive to the cold, so it was very tough for me to clean.
However it was interesting for me to do housecleaning with my geisha sisters.
Even though it was very dusty in my "Okiya", we really enjoyed the housecleaning.

When we finished cleaning the second floor, the other members were still cleaning the kitchen.
I know, it's most time consuming to clean the kitchen.

While the other geisha sisters were cleaning the kitchen, the members who had cleaned the second floor, also cleaned the entrance.

We found many "Zori", Japanese sandals, while we were cleaning up the shoe rack, since we didn't know who they belonged to, we confirmed with our geisha mother and other geisha sisters about whose were whose.

When we had finished everything, we felt a sense of accomplishment.

2 days after the housecleaning, my geisha mother invited us to the end of year party.

Actually, we had already eaten dinner with her the day before the end of year party.
My geisha mother sometimes invites us for dinner, even when we don't have any ozashiki parties and when we are helping out other members at the "Okiya".

On the day before the end of year party, we were sewing some garments, which were necessary for an important geisha event, in the kitchen, when my geisha mother came back, she invited all of us to dinner.

Even though we already had eaten dinner with her, I was still looking forward to the end of year party.

After the trip to The Spa Resort Hawaiians, I feel more comfortable with my geisha family, so I really enjoyed the party.

I think our geisha family is like a real family.
Even though our personalities are different, however we don't feel uncomfortable with each other.

Some of my friends sometimes said to me that it might be tough for me to work in such a strict world.
I don't know about other geisha families' relationships, however I'm really glad to belong to my geisha family.