Miyako Odori 2008

Today Peter attended the special invite-only dress rehearsal of the Miyako Odori. The Miyako Odori is the most famous geisha dance, which gives the general public the chance to see geisha perform without hiring them personally. The Miyako Odori runs from April 1 to 30, and is held in the Gion Kobu Kaburenjo. The performances run 4 times a day at 12:30, 2:00, 3:30 and 4:50. You can usually buy tickets on the day, except probably weekends, and especially the later sessions.

This is this year's dance booklet:



And as a present here are scans of the maiko who are performing this year:

Maiko Page 1
Maiko Page 2
Maiko Page 3
Maiko Page 4

Video to come soon!

Yasuha's Erikae

Last week, maiko Yasuha of the Miyagawa-cho geisha district "turned her collar" and became a geiko (geisha). Peter was there to photograph this happy event, and we have some photos and videos to share.



For more photos: Visit Peter's Flickr account.

Guts Kansai!!

On February 11 at 2:50pm, Peter will appear on Guts Kansai TV show. In this episode he shows movie star Junichi Ishida and ex.Morning Musume Nakazawa Yuko around Kyoto in Japanese. He takes them to famous and not-so-famous sights in Kyoto, to show them that Kyoto is like a "Theme Park City" in Japan.


Outside Kiyomizudera temple in the snow.


With the hosts of the show outside Yasaka Jinja Shrine (her agent said we couldn't show her face in our blog, sorry!)

Setsubun and Obake

Setsubun is a Japanese festival celebrating the beginning of Spring in Japan. On this day it is traditional for familes to throw beans out of their house while chanting "Devils out, luck in!" to ward off bad luck for the coming year.

In Kyoto there are many "Mamemaki" ceremonies where preists and invited guests (such as maiko and geisha) throw lucky beans people visiting shrines. There is also another custom in Kyoto called "Obake", which is like Japanese Halloween. This custom is now confined mainly to the geisha districts, where geisha go from tea house to tea house and perform a skit while dressed in outrageous costumes.

One of the rules of Obake is that things are topsy-turvey. Old dress as young, men dress and women and vice-versa. This year Peter and his friends dressed up for Setsubun in Obake costumes, much to the amusement of the tourists! Many Japanese people do not know about Obake and thought they were actors. Peter was dressed as an old-fashioned courtesan and performed a dance. There will be a video on YouTube soon!


Peter as "Munage-Dayuu" (Hairy-chested Courtesean, LOL).


Peter and friends outside Yasaka Jinja.

Tsuukai Everyday! 痛快！エブリデイ

On January 23 I will appear on Kansai Television's morning show "Tsuukai! Everyday" (Thrilling! Everyday) as a guest, along with geiko Umechika and comedy duo "Daian" (the group named themselves after their school's English teacher, Dianne). The hosts of the show explored northen Kyoto, at which point they stumbled across me in Kamishichiken, where I taught them how to take pictures of geiko and maiko.


Peter, Umechika and Daian.

Umechika in her Hometown, Yamagata

On December 30, Peter went to Yamagata Prefecture in Northern Japan to work on his two projects- his photobook on the geiko Umechika (due out in June), and to get video footage for his documentary "Real Geisha, Real Women" (TBC in 2009).


Umechika (lower left) and friends from high school.


Umechika with high school friends and Peter.



The Tohoku Shinkansen pulling into the station.

New Video on Youtube!

The video of the New Years Greetings is now available for viewing on YouTube.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhGAleE36Xs

We will continue to upload geisha and kyoto related videos from time to time, so keep an eye out!