My geisha family went to Kamaishi in order to help that city’s last remaining geisha.

About one month ago, we read a newspaper article about Kamaishi city’s last geisha who had suffered in the M9 Tohoku earthquake.

* At Age 84, a City’s Last Geisha Defies Time and a 4th Tsunami - The New York Times

According to the article, she lost all of her kimonos and her shamisen, belongings which she had really cherished.

My geisha mother quickly made a plan for some of us to go to Kamaishi to help her.

Before going we purchased some necessary kimono items.
Furthermore, we made some Nagauta* tapes for her from our own Nagauta CDs, because Kamaishi’s last geisha is an expert Nagauta performer.

* Nagauta is one genre of traditional Japanese songs, which geisha generally must learn.

Everyday we made Nagauta tapes for her while we were preparing for the ozashiki parties at our Okiya, geisha house.

My geisha mother asked me to learn Kamaishi-hamauta (釜石浜唄), which is a famous folk song in Kamaishi, from my shamisen teacher so that she could practice the song.

My geisha mother thought that if she could sing that song with Kamaishi’s last geisha, it might inspire her and Kamaishi’s local people.

I quickly emailed my shamisen teacher and he readily agreed.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t go to Kamaishi with my geisha family, because I had already planned to go back to my hometown at the same time.
However I wished them a safe journey.

On the day my geisha family visited Kamaishi, one famous TV program reported about them so I was able to know what happened.

My geisha mother gave one of her shamisens to Kamaishi’s last geisha and they sang Kamaishi-hamauta.

Such kind of local songs are important for the whole community, not only for the geisha.
I was very happy to see it on TV.

After they visited Kamaishi, they moved to Kesennuma, which is my favourite geisha sister’s hometown.

As I had written in my previous article, she had lost her cherished hometown.
Her saving grace was that her parents and brother had survived.
Nevertheless she said to me that she was still afraid to go back to her hometown.
Her parents also said to her that she shouldn’t come back.
I love my hometown and my family, so I could understand why she was afraid.

On the day they had visited Kesennuma I received an email from my geisha mother about her experience in the town.

Several days later, my geisha family and I all received an email from our geisha sister who had remained her hometown.

When I read her email, I was very shocked.
In her email she gave a graphic description of the condition of her family and the shelter where they were staying.
I could understand her confusion and pain. Several days later I talked to her on the phone.

I want to write about what she had told me, however it’s very difficult to describe everything she said in sufficient detail.

I just want to say that it’s very difficult to for the relief organizations to supply things which the refugees really need, because in such shelters they have developed small communities and the refugees seldom express their true needs.
She said to me that the real situation is very different from the news.

I’m thinking about what I should and can do.