After the new year holidays, a new year event, called "Hatsuharu no mai" was held.
It is an annual outdoor geisha event held in conjunction with the neighborhood association, which the public can enjoy free of charge.
Last year I participated in the event for the first time.
Unfortunately, last year was the coldest in recent years, so it was very hard to play the shamisen outside and after the “Hatsuharu no Mai” event, I caught a cold.
I also remembered that a large audience came to see our performance, so I recognized that the “Hatsuharu no Mai” event is an important event for us.
For last year’s event, my geisha mother decided the songs for the event at a meeting a month before the event, however this year my geisha mother didn’t announce the songs as early.
During our new year holiday from December 30th to January 3rd, I felt anxious about which songs we would have to play, so I practiced some songs which might be used for the event very hard every day while I was staying at my parents house in Tokushima prefecture.
In the end, my geisha mother announced the songs for the event the day before the rehearsal.
Indeed the rehearsal was held the day before the “Hatsuharu no Mai” event.
I felt relieved when I heard which songs we would play, since I had already practiced and memorized all of the songs.
On January 7th, we gathered in the early morning in order to prepare and change into our kimonos.
The “Hatsuharu no Mai” event would be held from 1:30pm.
On the actual day, “Hashigo nori”, which is a traditional Japanese style acrobatic performance done on a ladder, was also being held around noon.
I wanted to see it, however since we were very busy I couldn’t.
This year is the centennial anniversary of the establishment of Nakacho, the Hachioji geisha district. Therefore, the floats from Nakacho and next district, which usually are paraded only on the “Hachioji festival” day, were also being paraded.
The venue of the “Hatsuharu no Mai” event was very near to my okiya.
So I sometimes went there in order to check on the progress of all the events.
The time for our “Hatsuharu no Mai” event came soon.
While we were preparing, a large audience came to see our performance.
I felt that the size of the audience was larger than last year.
It was also very cold just like last year, however since a large audience came I was very glad.
3 shamisen players including me and 1 drum player finished getting ready, so my geisha mother, who was also the main shamisen player, started to announce the beginning of the event.
We performed 7 songs, which took about 20 minutes.
Last year, we played for the same length of time and I lost all feeling in my fingers.
However, this year I didn’t loose any feeling in my fingers.
I was satisfied and relieved after the event.
2012年1月18日水曜日
Housecleaning and the end of year party with my geisha family
At the end of the year, there are 3 annual events in my geisha household.
One of them is to clean the "Okiya", our geisha house, from top to bottom.
Another is to sew and repair some garments which are necessary for our kimonos.
For example, for fastening the Obi we use something called an “Obimakura”. The belt of the Obimakura is made from gauze, so we must replace it every year.
The other is our end of year party with my geisha mother and geisha sisters.
The end of year party was held on the 26th.
The sewing of the kimono garments was held on the 27th.
The thorough housecleaning of the "Okiya" was held on December 28th.
All events were held in the afternoon, because we had to attend the ozashiki parties in the evening.
This year, unfortunately I caught a cold a few days before so I felt it was hard to participate in those events.
On the 26th, my geisha mother invited us to the end of year party.
One of my geisha sisters is a mother of 2 little children, so my geisha mother selected a small izakaya which has a small private tatami room so that she could bring her children.
However in the end she couldn’t attend the party because she had also caught a cold.
By the way, the izakaya which my geisha mother had selected is well-known in the Hachioji geisha district for it’s special Kagoshima free-range chicken dishes so all my geisha sisters were looking forward to the end year party.
All of the dishes that we ate at the party, which were made from Kagoshima free-range chicken, were more delicious than we had expected. I really enjoyed our end of year party.
On the 27th, when I arrived at the Okiya, my geisha sisters had already started the sewing, so I apologised for not taking an earlier train.
On the 28th, we cleaned the Okiya from top to bottom.
Unfortunately, one of my geisha sisters also caught a cold and had a stomachache, so she couldn’t attend the thorough housecleaning.
I was responsible for cleaning the second floor of the Okiya with two other geisha sisters.
There are 4 rooms on the second floor; a make-up room, a dressing room, a kimono closet and a room which is used by my geisha mother’s niece.
We didn’t decide who would clean which room or what specific job we would do, however we could work together efficiently.
My oldest geisha sister and I rearranged the contents of the drawers in two rooms while we were cleaning.
Since many people use the Okiya, it’s hard to know which things need to be thrown away and which things are important and need to be kept. We found many things which have been hoarded up over the years.
We started the thorough housecleaning at 10am and it finished at 1:30pm.
After all work was finished we all ate delivery Indian together, which my geisha mother treated us.
The 28th was the last work day for me in 2011, so I felt satisfied.
One of them is to clean the "Okiya", our geisha house, from top to bottom.
Another is to sew and repair some garments which are necessary for our kimonos.
For example, for fastening the Obi we use something called an “Obimakura”. The belt of the Obimakura is made from gauze, so we must replace it every year.
The other is our end of year party with my geisha mother and geisha sisters.
The end of year party was held on the 26th.
The sewing of the kimono garments was held on the 27th.
The thorough housecleaning of the "Okiya" was held on December 28th.
All events were held in the afternoon, because we had to attend the ozashiki parties in the evening.
This year, unfortunately I caught a cold a few days before so I felt it was hard to participate in those events.
On the 26th, my geisha mother invited us to the end of year party.
One of my geisha sisters is a mother of 2 little children, so my geisha mother selected a small izakaya which has a small private tatami room so that she could bring her children.
However in the end she couldn’t attend the party because she had also caught a cold.
By the way, the izakaya which my geisha mother had selected is well-known in the Hachioji geisha district for it’s special Kagoshima free-range chicken dishes so all my geisha sisters were looking forward to the end year party.
All of the dishes that we ate at the party, which were made from Kagoshima free-range chicken, were more delicious than we had expected. I really enjoyed our end of year party.
On the 27th, when I arrived at the Okiya, my geisha sisters had already started the sewing, so I apologised for not taking an earlier train.
On the 28th, we cleaned the Okiya from top to bottom.
Unfortunately, one of my geisha sisters also caught a cold and had a stomachache, so she couldn’t attend the thorough housecleaning.
I was responsible for cleaning the second floor of the Okiya with two other geisha sisters.
There are 4 rooms on the second floor; a make-up room, a dressing room, a kimono closet and a room which is used by my geisha mother’s niece.
We didn’t decide who would clean which room or what specific job we would do, however we could work together efficiently.
My oldest geisha sister and I rearranged the contents of the drawers in two rooms while we were cleaning.
Since many people use the Okiya, it’s hard to know which things need to be thrown away and which things are important and need to be kept. We found many things which have been hoarded up over the years.
We started the thorough housecleaning at 10am and it finished at 1:30pm.
After all work was finished we all ate delivery Indian together, which my geisha mother treated us.
The 28th was the last work day for me in 2011, so I felt satisfied.
2012年1月9日月曜日
The meeting for Hachioji-odori
In Kyoto, there are some geisha districts, and each geisha district holds a big annual geisha performance at a public theater in Kyoto, such as the Gion-odori, Kitano-odori and Kyo-odori.
These performances have a long history and to holding such a performance is very important for the geisha culture.
In Tokyo, there are also some geisha districts; for example, in Shimbahi, Akasaka, Asakusa, Kagurazaka and so on.
Shimbashi’s geisha district holds the Azuma-odori and Akasaka’s geisha district holds the Akasaka-odori.
It was a dream for Hachioji’s geisha to hold their own geisha performance at a public theater.
However since there are less than 15 geisha in Hachioji it has been difficult to hold such a big event with only a small number of geisha.
These annual geisha performances usually last for about 1.5 to 2 hours, and are not held free of charge.
However my geisha mother and geisha sister, who is a geisha mother of another okiya, decided they wanted to hold the Hachioji-odori in the near future.
Before our first traditional dance lesson in December, we gathered at our dance teacher’s house to hold the first meeting for the Hachioji-odori.
At first, we had to decide when we would hold the Hachioji-odori performance.
It will be the first time to hold such a big event by ourselves, so we thought that we would need enough time to prepare and practice, therefore we decided to hold it in the Spring of 2013.
Secondly we decided the program.
Only 9 of the 15 geisha are learning traditional Japanese dance, so if we will hold a performance for 1.5 to 2 hours, we have to decide over 10 songs, would be difficult with only 9 geisha.
We decided to use pre-recorded music instead of live shamisen music.
However since most of the geisha are learning the shamisen and a narimono, such as a Japanese drum or Japanese flute, we decided to play a Nagauta song as the first song with live instruments. I was asked to take charge of the Tsuzumi.
We also decided to ask our Narimono teacher and former Hachioji geisha to participate in our performance.
When we were deciding the program of songs for the event, my dance teacher said that it would be difficult for me to dance in a long piece of music. When I heard it, I was shocked.
Furthermore, my geisha mother said that I should buy a geisha wig.
I thought that if I had to buy it for only the one or two short songs which I would dance at the Hachioji-odori, I didn’t want to buy it. I wanted my dance teacher to permit me to dance a long Nagauta song. Therefore I must practice dancing more.
By the way, the geisha wig is very expensive; about 400-500 thousand yen. I have to start saving my money.
Let me talk about the most important thing which we decided at the first meeting for the Hachioji-odori.
We promised each other that before the Hachioji-odori, we would not get pregnant.
If someone was to get pregnant, that geisha would not be able to practice or participate in the Hachioji-odori.
Since we planned the program of the Hachioji-odori with only a small number of geisha, if one of us couldn’t attend, we would have difficulty to put on the event.
When we decided that we would hold the Hachioji-odori performance 3 years later, one geisha said that she felt anxious, because now she is 34 years old, so when the Hachioji-odori would be held, she would be 37 years old as she wanted to have a baby.
I think all geisha who attended the meeting understood her anxiety, because we are the same generation as her.
However my dance teacher and geisha mother said that if we decide to participate in the Hachioji-odori, we should take on the responsibility.
To tell the truth, I also felt the same anxiety, however when I made a committment to participate in the Hachioji-odori my anxiety disappeared.
I will do my best for the Hachioji-odori.
These performances have a long history and to holding such a performance is very important for the geisha culture.
In Tokyo, there are also some geisha districts; for example, in Shimbahi, Akasaka, Asakusa, Kagurazaka and so on.
Shimbashi’s geisha district holds the Azuma-odori and Akasaka’s geisha district holds the Akasaka-odori.
It was a dream for Hachioji’s geisha to hold their own geisha performance at a public theater.
However since there are less than 15 geisha in Hachioji it has been difficult to hold such a big event with only a small number of geisha.
These annual geisha performances usually last for about 1.5 to 2 hours, and are not held free of charge.
However my geisha mother and geisha sister, who is a geisha mother of another okiya, decided they wanted to hold the Hachioji-odori in the near future.
Before our first traditional dance lesson in December, we gathered at our dance teacher’s house to hold the first meeting for the Hachioji-odori.
At first, we had to decide when we would hold the Hachioji-odori performance.
It will be the first time to hold such a big event by ourselves, so we thought that we would need enough time to prepare and practice, therefore we decided to hold it in the Spring of 2013.
Secondly we decided the program.
Only 9 of the 15 geisha are learning traditional Japanese dance, so if we will hold a performance for 1.5 to 2 hours, we have to decide over 10 songs, would be difficult with only 9 geisha.
We decided to use pre-recorded music instead of live shamisen music.
However since most of the geisha are learning the shamisen and a narimono, such as a Japanese drum or Japanese flute, we decided to play a Nagauta song as the first song with live instruments. I was asked to take charge of the Tsuzumi.
We also decided to ask our Narimono teacher and former Hachioji geisha to participate in our performance.
When we were deciding the program of songs for the event, my dance teacher said that it would be difficult for me to dance in a long piece of music. When I heard it, I was shocked.
Furthermore, my geisha mother said that I should buy a geisha wig.
I thought that if I had to buy it for only the one or two short songs which I would dance at the Hachioji-odori, I didn’t want to buy it. I wanted my dance teacher to permit me to dance a long Nagauta song. Therefore I must practice dancing more.
By the way, the geisha wig is very expensive; about 400-500 thousand yen. I have to start saving my money.
Let me talk about the most important thing which we decided at the first meeting for the Hachioji-odori.
We promised each other that before the Hachioji-odori, we would not get pregnant.
If someone was to get pregnant, that geisha would not be able to practice or participate in the Hachioji-odori.
Since we planned the program of the Hachioji-odori with only a small number of geisha, if one of us couldn’t attend, we would have difficulty to put on the event.
When we decided that we would hold the Hachioji-odori performance 3 years later, one geisha said that she felt anxious, because now she is 34 years old, so when the Hachioji-odori would be held, she would be 37 years old as she wanted to have a baby.
I think all geisha who attended the meeting understood her anxiety, because we are the same generation as her.
However my dance teacher and geisha mother said that if we decide to participate in the Hachioji-odori, we should take on the responsibility.
To tell the truth, I also felt the same anxiety, however when I made a committment to participate in the Hachioji-odori my anxiety disappeared.
I will do my best for the Hachioji-odori.
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