My stage debut wearing a geisha wig: Part 1

My big dream was to wear my own geisha wig.
Hachioji’s geisha usually just have their hair set at a hair salon.
We only wear the geisha wig when our customers request us to wear the geisha wig and also in January which is a special month.

I didn’t have my own geisha wig, because I’m a “Zikata”, who is a shamisen player, and the “Zikata” generally doesn’t wear the geisha wig.

However I started taking traditional Japanese dance lessons about 1.5 years ago, so I started to want to have my own geisha wig.

One day, I asked my geisha mother about having my own geisha wig, but she refused my offer.
She said to me that it was too early for me to have my own geisha wig, because my dance level was not good enough yet.
I felt sad, however I could understand what she wanted to say.

Nevertheless, several months later my geisha mother said to me that I could get my own geisha wig.

She said to me that she and the Hachioji Neighborhood Association had decided that at this year’s Hachioji festival, all of the Hachioji geisha would wear a Tekomai (手古舞) costume and Tekomai geisha wig. Therefore I could finally get my own geisha wig which I could have set in the Tekomai geisha wig style for the Hachioji festival.

* Tekomai Sample YouTube video

My geisha mother and I decided a day when we would visit and order my geisha wig from a geisha wig shop in Ginza.

On March 3rd, my geisha mother and I went to the famous geisha wig shop which has over 100 years of history.
The owner of that shop is 84 years old and is a famous craftsman.
At first he told us something that surprised my geisha mother and I .
He said that he was thinking about closing down his shop at the end of April.
I realised that my geisha wig would be the last work for him. My heart was overwhelmed with emotion.

He measured me for my own geisha wig which took about 1 hour.
While he was taking my measurements, my geisha mother went out to eat lunch and he and I talked about many things, so I started to like his personality.

After I ordered the wig, my geisha mother and I enjoyed shopping in Ginza for a while, and I  suddenly remembered that I had to buy some necessary items which my geisha sister had asked me to buy.

I called the geisha wig shop and told him that I would go back to the shop.
On the phone, he said he would leave a message with his staff in case he was out for lunch when I arrived at his shop,
However when I arrived at his shop, I caught him in front of his shop as he was just about to leave, so I asked him to lunch.

While we were having lunch, we talked more about his life, family and his way of thinking, so I struck a chord with him.

After lunch, I went to Hachioji, because I had an ozashiki party.
I was really looking forward to receiving my own geisha wig, and meeting him again.