Meeting a Maiko

One evening while in Kyoto, Japan's ancient imperial capital, my mom and I signed up for a small-group geisha show, which ended up being a super cool and interesting cultural experience, and one of the highlights of our trip to Japan.

We met with our English-speaking guide outside of an old traditional wooden tea house in the north of the city, and our guide began introducing and explaining the history and culture of Japan's geisha tradition.

A geisha is essentially an entertainer. In fact, the word "geisha" literally translates to "person of the arts". They are typically hired to bring a degree of beauty, elegance, and grace to social gatherings, especially at tea houses, traditional inns, or elegant banquets. The role of a geisha is to create an atmosphere of sophistication. In essence, they serve as highly trained hostesses whose purpose is to serve and entertain guests.

However, the role of a geisha goes far beyond simple performance. Today, the small number of women who choose to undergo the rigorous training and strict lifestyle required to become a geisha see themselves as custodians of a disappearing culture and protectors of Japan's ancient, refined arts.

Geisha train in the traditional Japanese arts of entertainment, mastering a number of skills such as singing, dancing, serving tea in traditional tea ceremonies, playing a number of musical instruments, playing games, participating in pastimes such as calligraphy and flower arrangements, and engaging in conversation and etiquette.

We removed our shoes and walked over the cool wooden floors of the 200-year-old teahouse to sit at a long table set in a recess in the ground.

The resident geiko, or senior, fully trained geisha, came out to greet us and, with the help of our guide as a translator, taught us more about the differences between a geiko and a maiko, or apprentice geisha.

The differences between the two ranks of geisha are obvious even at first glance. A geiko wears a simpler kimono and a traditional styled wig. Maiko on the other hand wear extremely elaborate robes with long trailing sleeves, intricate makeup, and wear their natural hair in a style that takes up to an hour to prepare.

As the geiko, with the help of our guide as a translator, explained the elaborate and intricate outfit of the maiko, from the patterned fabric of her robes to the seasonal hairpiece that she wore, the maiko turned around to demonstrate the details of her kimono.

It takes a maiko over an hour to get dressed each morning, and that's not even counting the extra time spent on makeup, which can take another hour to properly apply.

Maiko have to sleep on their side on a special wooden neck pillow to preserve their hairstyle. It looked extremely uncomfortable! I have no idea how they get used to using a pillow like this.

After learning the basics of being a geisha, the maiko performed two traditional fan dances.

Next, the maiko invited the guests to join her in a traditional ozashiki asobi, or parlor game, which involved clapping in time to a song and rhythmically lifting an overturned wooden cup.

The maiko and a guest sat across from each other as she and the geiko began singing and clapping to a lively tune. In rhythm with the song, the maiko would clap, then either tap or swiftly snatch up the cup as the tempo quickened. If the cup was already in her opponent’s hand, the other player was instead meant to knock on the wooden table with a closed fist, but if they accidentally struck it with an open palm, they lost. What seemed simple at first quickly became a test of timing and composure. The maiko, of course, won most rounds.

This was all followed by a Q&A session where guests were encouraged to ask the maiko anything we were curious to know, and there was certainly a lot! We learned that:

• The maiko whom we met was 17 years old and had been in training for about a year. She decided to become a geisha following in the footsteps of one of her idols who she really looked up to.
• If the maiko have their hair up in the traditional style, then they must wear a kimono at all times. On the rare occasion that she goes home to visit her family or has a day off, she is permitted to wear her street clothes, but only when her hair is down.
• It takes her nearly two hours to get dressed every morning.
• There are only around 1,000 geishas left in all of Japan. It's a very rigorous lifestyle, with the maiko living at the teahouse, which also doubles as a school, studying and training for hours every day. Not many young women are willing to commit to the lifestyle, which requires them to remain single and unmarried. If they do marry, they must give up their career as a geisha.

We left the teahouse a short while later and along with our guide and the maiko, who had changed into a simpler kimono and raised wooden sandals (to protect her feet from any puddles), we walked as a group to the nearby Kitano Tenmangu Shrine.

This popular Shinto shrine is dedicated to scholar Sugawara no Michizane, who after his unjust death was deified as the god of knowledge and calligraphy, and who has said to have guarded the shrine since its founding in the year 947.

The walk to the main shrine hall is flanked by two cow statues. Local lore says that if you rub the statues, you will have academic success. Needless to say, the shrine is extremely popular with local students who come to pray for good grades and success in their exams.

I'm not sure that I've really done justice to how interesting and informative the geisha experience really was. Our hosts, both the maiko and the geiko, were extremely welcoming and gracious, and were very happy to answer any questions we may have had, and they seemed very happy and proud to share this ancient Japanese tradition with us.

We returned to our hotel in the evening, and I took my mom to Sushiro for dinner. This popular Japanese sushi chain is one of my favorites in Bangkok, and I knew that it would be just as good in Kyoto.

It's one of those conveyor belt sushi places. You just order whatever type of sushi you'd like from the tablet at your table, and it will be sent shortly on the conveyor belt to be delivered right in front of you.

Following dinner we took a walk to Pontocho Alley, the so-called "most beautiful street in Japan".

Pontocho Alley is a sliver of old Kyoto in the midst of modern Japan, and the street, narrow and lamplit, is lined with traditional restaurants, bars, and shops.

It was a little crowded, so we didn't end up stopping anywhere for dessert, but it was fun to explore the more touristy side of Kyoto, even just for a few minutes. Pontocho Alley is beautiful, to be sure, but it didn't necessarily seem any more special than any of the other ancient streets and alleys we had explored while in Kyoto.