The collaboration event at Gazyoen (雅叙園) with Oi-kaigan (大井海岸) and Shibuya-maruyama-cho’s (渋谷円山町) geisha

This event was organized by the Japan ozashiki-asobi association (日本お座敷遊び協会) on August 30.
Although I don’t know much about the Japan ozashiki-asobi association, this association has already organized similar events 2 or 3 times in the past.

I heard that one of the main purposes of the August 30 event was to invite Kamaishi’s last remaining geisha and have her perform Kamaishi’s local songs with Hachioji’s geisha.

However due to budget constraints, only my geisha mother was called to play the shamisen.
My geisha sister and I were not called, even though we went to Kamaishi in order to learn Kamaishi’s local songs from Kamaishi’s last remaining geisha.

Several days before the event, I was asked by my geisha mother to participate in the group practice session for the event.
My geisha mother said to me that the organizer had asked her to bring one more geisha to the event. However it wasn’t concrete at that time whether I would be going or not.
Just in case my geisha mother asked me to practice several songs for the event.

The day before the event, my geisha mother said to me that she would pay my geisha fee instead of the association.
When I heard that, I was very surprised and I expressed my gratitude to her.

On the actual day of the event, we left Hachioji at 4pm and picked up Kamaishi’s last remaining geisha and her nephew at their Hotel in Shinagawa.
After that we went to the venue, Gazyoen (雅叙園) in Meguro.

I was excited, because the traditional Japanese gardens and buildings at Gazyoen are very beautiful.
I’ve been there once before as a member of an Awa-orodi dance group to perform Awa-odori at the wedding party of my Awa-odori dance group’s leader.
Unfortunately at that time, I didn’t have a chance to enjoy the atmosphere of Gazyoen.
I think that Gazyoen is the best place to hold such a event as a wedding party or traditional Japanese cultural event.

When we arrived at the waiting room for guests, the Oi-kaigan (大井海岸) and Shibuya-maruyama-cho (渋谷円山町) geisha had already arrived, so we greeted each other.

I’ve met Oi-kaigan’s geisha before at a joint event in July, however it was my first time to meett Shibuya-maruyama-cho geisha. So I was excited.

While we were in the waiting room, Oi-kaigan’s geisha and Hachioji’s geisha decided to dance a popular ozashiki party song at the event so we practiced together for several minutes.
I was surprised that Oi-kaigan’s geisha could master the posture of the song in such a short time.
Oi-kaigan have one male geisha, which is very rare in the geisha world. Indeed “He” is a male, but “she” looks very beautiful as a geisha.

The party stared a little behind schedule.

We served beer and sake to the customers, who seemed mostly to be under 40-years-old. It’s very rare that such young people participated in an ozashiki party.

At first Oi-kaigan’s geisha performed. Even though I’ve seen their performance before, I really enjoyed it.

After they finished, the Hachioji geisha performed.
We performed 2 popular ozashiki party songs, and after that we called Kamaishi’s last remaining geisha and performed 2 of Kamaishi’s local songs.
Kamaishi’s last remaining geisha sang those songs beautifully.

We made paper bonitos and cuttlefish for one of Kamaishi’s local songs.
My geisha sisters made them from newspaper and thin paper and then colored them.
When I saw they were dancing with the paper bonitos and cuttlefish, I felt glad.

After us, the Shibuya-maruyama-cho geisha performed. Although only 2 of their geisha performed, I was fascinated with their beautiful dance and shamisen playing.
I really enjoyed their performance.

I could have a precious experience thanks to my geisha mother and I made a fresh resolve to practice more.