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.