Playing a rhythm based drinking game with the Maiko-san. Maiko are
apprentice geisha- our Maiko-san was only 18 years old. When she becomes
a geisha, she will no longer wear the red diamond in her hair.
Today was a
very interesting day. It was all over the place! Some of you might
recall that a couple of months ago, as I was riding my bike home, I was
hit by a car. I wasn’t hurt, but my bicycle was destroyed, so the
driver, Yoko, gave me the money to buy a new one. Well, right before we
left for Hokkaido, she texted me again; one, to make sure that I was
okay, and two, to invite me out to lunch in the Sanjo area (a classy end
of town). I accepted her offer on the condition Nicky could go with me,
since I assumed it would be rather awkward otherwise. I really have no
connection with the woman beyond what happened that day... but I decided
to go.
Yoko has three sons, the youngest of
which owns a restaurant called “Sora” (where we ate). Her second son
studied English in Vancouver for a year before going to Iowa to study
for a pilot license. Three years ago, he died in a plane crash- this
information was very unsettling, and hard to discuss in Japanese, as
well as over lunch-- Nicky and I really didn’t know what to say. The
food was very good though. We were able to eat beef from cattle raised
in Kyoto- it was so tender, like butter... even thinking about it now
makes my mouth water... but it was extremely expensive. About 6 ounces
of meat was $30.... thank goodness the owner of the store was paying!
After lunch, we parted ways with Yoko
and her family and headed down to the Kamo River. The Sanjo shopping
area is actually really pretty, but I’d like to go on a weekday, when
there will be less “trendy” people about. There are a lot of interesting
shops. While we were at the Kamo River, we watched a man feeding fish
hawks- at one point, there were over six hawks circling the area he was
in, taking dives at the water fowl and ravens when they tried to go
after the food.
We spent about an hour by the
riverside, before packing up and heading down to Kyoto station to meet
Aaron and Jenni. It was time for the main event of the day- the Maiko
party!!
We met Wada-san and the other
participants near the Gion, where we were then led down one of the four
main streets of Gion. The best part about this street is that it looks
so deserted- the doors are all closed, and there are very few lamps. I
imagine many tourists overlook the street because of its humble
appearance. But, it takes only one look in the window to see that this
is part of geisha town- one house we walked by had a lineup of about
twenty of the black lacquer shoes barely visible through its slated
windows- a house for geisha. It was quite intimate, and I was surprised,
because I was expecting more tourism.
We were led to a very small, Japanese
style bar with only two floors. We took our shoes off at the door and
headed upstairs. The room was quite small, and luckily, Nicky and I were
allowed to sit together even though it was supposed to be partly a
mixer. I met a lot of interesting people at the party- but naturally,
the apprentice geisha- the Maiko- stole the show.
Our Maiko-san was only 18 years old,
but she was quite charming. She explained that she had been scouted to
become a geisha when she was very young. While she was with us, all of
us got a chance to have our picture taken with her, as well as play one
round of drinking games with her. The game was a rhythm game, and
whether you won or lost, you were forced to drink a glass of beer in
four seconds or less. Nicky astounded everyone when she won a round!
Jenni and Aaron also won, making it so that the only people who actually
won the game were foreigners... imagine that!
In any
case, the Maiko was absolutely gorgeous, and I’m glad she was patient
with all of us taking a zillion pictures of her. You can see pictures in
my gallery. After the party, Nicky and I decided to walk back to Kyoto
Station from Gion, and shared a pleasant and quietly romantic walk down
the Kamo river. I truly love it here!