Our first performance at the Hachioji Assembly Hall

We were invited to  the Hachioji Assembly Hall in order to help increase the number of people who came to watch the first session  of the Hachioji city council.
It was the first time for Hachioji’s geisha to perform at the Hachioji Assembly Hall.

Around one month before that day, we decided which songs we would perform.
However after my geisha mother had the meeting for the event with the Assembly Hall’s staff, she changed some of the songs. I hadn’t played some of them, so I had to practice them hard.

The event was to be held on February 29th.
As I wrote on my previous diary, on February 23rd and 24th we had the Obake event, so I didn’t have enough time to practice for this event. Nevertheless somehow I was able to remember all of the songs.

On the day before the event, it started snowing.
The weather forecast predicted that it would snow heavily the next day.
I was anxious about the whether the train would be running on time the next day, because I always go to work by train.
At first I thought that I would stay at the Okiya, however I went back to my apartment.

The event was to start at 9:30am, which meant we had to arrive at the venue at 8:30am.
So I had to leave my apartment before 5am. It was very early.

I woke up to find the ground completely white with snow.
However the train bound for Hachioji was operating as usual. I felt relieved.

In case of any mishaps, I left my hair up from the previous day.
After I had put on my kimono, I still had enough time to go to the hair salon.
However when I was talking about that with my geisha sister, she said to me that I was able to keep my hair beautifully and that I didn’t need to go to the hair salon.
So I changed my plan.

When we left the Okiya, it was snowing heavily.
Since we had to bring a lot of things, including our instruments, to our performance, my geisha mother and another geisha sister, who is the geisha mother of another Okiya, took us to the venue in their cars.
Indeed it was very difficult to move about outside that day.
The scenery looked like a winter mountain village.

Somehow we were able to arrive at the Hachioji Assembly Hall, despite the heavy snow.
We quickly prepared and did a rehearsal.

The stage for our performance was set up in the center of hall, so we would be seen from all angles.
I got tense.
After the rehearsal, we formed a line at the main entrance of the hall and waited for the time to go on stage.

Finally the event started.
I felt that the event went very quickly but it was successful.