My trip to Urawa to see my geisha sisters’s performance.

My narimono (鳴り物 - a term used for traditional Japanese instruments except for the shamisen and flute like instruments) teacher asked my geisha sisters to accompany her in a performance where she would be a guest performer.

That show was held in Urawa which is located in Saitama prefecture, about 1 hour by train from Hachioji.

They performed 2 songs at that show.

The first song, “Zyonetsu-tairiku (情熱大陸)” which is very well known as the theme song of a TV program, is usually performed with only Western instruments.

Nevertheless at that show, “Zyonetsu-tairiku (情熱大陸)” was performed on traditional Japanese instruments; the Koto (箏), Shakuhachi (尺八), Shamisen (三味線), Taiko (太鼓) and so on.

* View an example of this song on YouTube.

They used only 1 Western instrument, the tambourine, which was played by my geisha sister.

The second song was a very famous Nagauta song (長唄 - one style of traditional Japanese music which is often used in Kabuki), “Genroku-hanami-odori (元禄花見踊り)”.

The original version of “Genroku-hanami-odori (元禄花見踊り)” is not played on the Koto (箏), however, since the main artist in the recital was a Koto player, I could enjoy an interesting performance of that song on the Koto.

One of my geisha sisters danced to “Genroku-hanami-odori (元禄花見踊り)” . Her dance was very beautiful and creative. I was fascinated by her performance.

The most surprising thing for me was that my geisha sisters were able to master an unusual Taiko performance and dance in such a short period of time.
I remember that my narimono teacher had asked them to perform in the show only 1 month ago.

I don’t think my geisha sisters received any performance fee, nevertheless they practiced earnestly, and they performed perfectly. I admire their professionalism.

As the performers prepared to play “Genroku-hanami-odori (元禄花見踊り)”, one geisha sister was interviewed by the main Koto player and she and the other geisha sister were introduced as the geisha from Hachioji.

I was worried that if my geisha sisters didn’t perform well at that show, the audience might have developed a negative image of Hachioji’s geisha. Nevertheless they could succeed.
When I greeted the receptionists before the show, they complimented me on how beautiful I looked, because I my hair up was set up and I was wearing a kimono.
Also when my geisha sister was introduced as one of Hachioji’s geisha, I heard some people in the audience comment how beautiful she was.
So I could realise that people in general have a favourable image of geisha.

Not all geisha however always live up to that positive image. To give you an example, one of Hachioji’s customers said to me at an ozashiki party that he once called Kyoto’s geiko and maiko to his ozashiki party in Kyoto. At that ozashiki party he enjoyed talking with them. However at an after party, he was very disappointed, because the geiko and maiko stopped behaving in a professional manner and their conversational tone also changed to that of ordinary young people.

He said to me that I should behave as a professional geisha at all times when I am outside of my home.

Now I’m working hard to develop my professional image as a geisha by improving my conversation and performance skills.