Miyagawa’s most popular maiko, Kimika (blue) and Satonami.
I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to it!
According to their website:
JMA’s prediction of cherry blossom blooming dates is conducted by applying the relationships between temperatures and blooming dates in previous years to the temperatures observed since last fall and those predicted in weekly, monthly and three-monthly forecasts.
Ah, the joys of winter in Cleveland.
Ah, the joys of being the lucky JET who gets to visit the Beautiful Mountain School in spring.
Sharin No Uta : The Wheel Song
The rusty wheels make a shriek
Carrying our bodies to the station at dawn
As I peddle
The thing you transmit as you lean against my back
Is definite warmth
Up the hill along the train tracks
“A little more, just a bit further”
From behind your voice sounds like you’re having fun
The town is way too quiet
“It’s like we’re the only people in the world” you grumble softly
At the moment we reached the top of the hill
We were at a loss for words
The sunrise that welcomed us was way too beautiful
Then I think you laughed behind me
I couldn’t look back because I was crying
I don’t really know the town
The most expensive ticket on
First end of the ticket machine goes to
The cheapest of all, the platform ticket
Even though I’d use it immediately
I carefully put it away
The big bag you bought
The day before yesterday
Caught on the wicket and,
Unable to pass through, you looked at me
I nodded without meeting your eyes
And my hand freed the bag’s stubbornly caught cord
The resounding bell announces the end
The door opens only for you
Having stepped forward,
One step with more distance than many thousands, you say
“I promise! We’ll definitely meet again some day!”
Unable to answer, with my eyes cast down, I waved my hand
You… You weren’t wrong that time…
Down the hill along the train tracks,I fly
Faster than the wind
I catch up with you and
The rusty wheel shrieks
With all my might, I line up with the train but
It slowly gets further away
You were crying, weren’t you
On the other side of the door
Even though I didn’t see your face,
I knew because your voice was shaking
I promise. We’ll definitely meet again someday
As you got further away,
I made a big wave with my hand so that you could see
The town was bustling but
“It’s like I’m the only person in the world” I grumbled softly
The rusty wheels shriek
Left behind, I’m carried along
A faint warmth
Kitano Tenmangu Shrine’s famous Baikaisai, or Plum Blossom Festival, is held every February 25th in memory of the deified patron saint of scholarship, Sugawara Michizane, a Heian Era court official and avid plum blossom admirer. After graduating from the national academy, he began his ill-fated career at court as a scholar. Although he was elevated in rank under the grace of Emperor Uda, his rivalry with a member of the powerful Fujiwara family resulted in his banishment from court. Demoted to the rank of a minor official in Kyushu, he died a lonely death with a dishonored name.
Plum blossoms in full bloom beneath the brightly covered eves of Kitano Tenmangu Shrine.
After his death, plague and drought spread throughout the capital. The emperor’s sons began to die in rapid succession. The Imperial Palace’s Great Audience Hall (shishinden) was repeatedly struck by lightning as the city was drenched by rainstorms and floods. Attributing this to the angry spirit of the exiled Sugawara, the imperial court built and dedicated Kitano Tenmangu shrine to him, posthumously restoring his title and office. All mention of his exile was struck from the record and Sugawara was deified as Tenjin-sama, or kami of scholarship. Today many Shinto shrines in Japan are dedicated to him.
Umeshizu prepares to perform the tea ceremony.
I never really got around to uploading many of the pictures I took at last year’s Baikasai, and since I can’t be there this year, I’d like to share these with you now. Enjoy!
“Living flowers” beneath the plum blossoms. From right to left: Umesato, Naokazu, Satoyuki, and Naohiro.
Katsuya leads her younger sister to the grounds of Kitano Tenmangu shrine.
The breath-takingly beautiful Umeha.
Naokazu and Satoyuki.
Katsuya smiles as she serves guests.
Satoyuki took part in the 2007 Baikasai as part of her training to become a geisha. She did not make her debut until afterwards. I was captivated by her stunning M.C. Escher-esque kimono.
Umeshizu gently smiles before offering a cup of matcha, a bitter powdered green tea whipped to frothy perfection, to guests.
The elegant Naozome, a high ranking maiko, never fails to make an impression.
Katsuryu concentrates on correct ettiquette as she serves the guests during her first Baikasai. She had only made her debut as a maiko earlier that month.
Satoyuki smiles.
Umeha and Naohiro in shades of lavender and plum.
Umeha laughs.
Tamayuki is a senior geiko of the Kamishichiken district. As geiko grow in experience and skill, they rely less on their flashy kimonos, hair, and make-up, and more on their skill, which is where there true beauty lies.
Katsuryu: Can you say KAWAII! So cute!
Naozome and Ichiteru.
Katsue in her final appearance as a maiko at the annual Baikasai. Now a geiko, she will soon be performing in the Kitano Odori as a full-fledged geisha.
Ichifumi, the famous blogging maiko Ichimame’s little sister, laughing with guests during her first Baikasai.
Yasunari Kawabata, the first Japanese to win the nobel prize (196 
once wrote “If for no other reason than to preserve traditional hairstyles, the geisha’s existance is vital. I wonder how and when these hairstyles developed.”
“Japanese men, as a rule, feel about a woman’s neck and throat about the same way as men in the west feel about a woman’s legs. This is why geisha wear the collars of their kimono so low in the back…I suppose that its like a woman in Paris wearing a short skirt.”
~Sayuri, in ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ by Aurthur Golden.
Ichimame laughs as she entertains guests.
Sisters Ichimame and Ichifumi admiring the plum blossoms.
Supernova: Bump of Chicken
When I get a fever I realize
That I have a body
When my nose gets stuffy I realize
That I’ve been breathing all this time
You’re existence
I make sure of it so many times but
You know how truly precious someone is
Once they’re gone
When I refused your outstretched hand
There might have been a big earthquake
When I protected your outstretched hand
The one I wanted to protect may have been myself
You’re existence
I always held on to it so tightly but
I’m really afraid so
I just can’t let go
La la la…
Talking to people I realize
There’s nothing I want to say
When I try to put the words together
I understand I’m full of feelings I want to express
Your existence
I can keep talking about it like this but
true gratitude
Can’t be expressed by a mere “thank you”
La la la…
In our clock (In the time we have)
We want
to grasp just one truth
and pass it on…
When I try to count the years, I realize
However slight, I had a history
At almost the same time I understand
An end will come to that, too
I can remember you whenever I want but
What I really want is
Not memories, it’s the present
It’s after I forget you that I remember
I had a history with you
It’s after I loose you that I discover
I met you by chance
A person’s existence
In this world is worthless, but
Somebody’s world
Can be built on it
Your existence
I confirm it so many times, but
Your true existence is that
Even when you’re gone, you’re here
Our clock doesn’t stop
It’s moving
La la la…
The classic wareshinobu hairstyle of a young maiko on the left is worn during a her first three years of service, until her coming of age ceremony.
Left: Ofuku, worn by maiko from the time of their coming of age ceremony until they are ready to turn their collars and become geiko. Far right: Wareshinobu.
Konomi, close up, is accompanied by Maori, who’s wears her own hair styled just as Meiji period schoolgirls once did as part of her Setsubun obake, or costume.
Left: Umemodoki / Osomemage hairstyle. Right: It’s a mystery!
Maiko of the Gion Kobu district make their way to the main stage of Yasaka Shrine to participate in the mamemaki, or bean throwing ceremony.
Setsubun festivities at Yasaka Shrine, including dances by Miyagawa-cho, Gion Kobu, and Gion Higashi. Thanks to ericity for uploading it to YouTube!
Unfortunately I was not able to attend the Setsubun festivities this year, but I look forward to shooing away devils and ushering in good fortune next year in Kyoto! Oni wa soto! Fuku ha uchi! If you’d like to Learn more about Setsubun, check out my posts from last year.
Japan’s wealthy playboys and camera-toting tourists are not the only ones drawn to the soft, red glow of Gion’s paper lanters. Kyoto’s most famous hanamachi, or geisha entertainment district, is also the preferred hangout of murders of young crows!
(Narrator): “Gion is crowded with people, but they’re all worried about what’s overhead…”
(Geisha Customer): “I was just saying, right? (maiko: Yes, you were.) You have to be careful with good kimono.
Geisha: That’s right.
(Maiko in green, Yukako): “It’s nasty, isin’t it! Lately its always falling right before my eyes. I can’t stand it!
(Narrator): Just then…
It’s raining poop! An innocent bystander is splatter with white bird droppings!
(Maiko): Oh no! You went out (from under the covered walkway).
(Geisha): I was suprised! Onii-san (big brother),the timing! Poor thing!
(Poor thing): It doesn’t come out!
(Geiko): But it’s dangerous over there, too. There are so many (birds) up there.
(Narrator): And again… (Another poop bomb splatters the pavement).
Blah, blah, blah… I just thought that first bit was hilarious! Especially since I have seen people fall victim to the occasional poop bomb, although I myslef have yet to be targeted. (^_^)x <— That’s me keeping my fingers crossed.
Another one of my favorites!
Snow Smile by Bump of Chicken
It’s a really good thing winter is cold
Because there’s no better reason
To invite your chilly left hand
Into my right pocket
“I wish it would snow!” you say with a pout
Well, if it doesn’t go the way you like
Don’t kick away the fallen leaves
We can still fall down in them
Why do you look like you’re having so much fun
Even though you’re angry?
In the still beautiful, untouched carpet of snow
Together we carve parallel lines of footprints
Even if this dream story never comes true
Smiles will overflow
This snowless road
There’s a little trick to our walking together
Your stride is so small
I look at the scenery as long as I can
Looking back at the scenery of you
Into the still dry curtain of the sky
Together we chime an orchestra of footsteps
Look! Before this dream story comes true
You will smile for me
I know it
Snow Smile
In the still beautiful, untouched carpet of snow
Together we carve parallel lines of footprints
Yes, even if you don’t wish for this dream story
You taught me to smile
On the path that I take
I’m so happy we met
The same season has come around again
In my right pocket, the memory I put away
Just as I thought, I put it away and walk
On a path without you
Lately a lot of visitors to my little blog here have been coming over from the awesome concept ad site, Made of Japan. A classic mosaic Onitskua (AKA Asics in the US,) made up of thousands of images from over 150 Nippon-centric© blogs. True to the Onitsuka motto, the shoes are literally Made of Japan! As you roll over the mosaic, tiny windows pop up showing the image and proving a link back to it’s source.
One of my images of Kikutsuru, then maiko of the Miyagawa district.
Another image of a few of my students.
Ever since my super-rad, high school cheerleading days I’ve been a uber-fan of Asics, which weren’t exactly considered cool at the time. Must of been the Japanese sensitivites laying dormant within me, silently drawing me towards my destiny as a full-fledge Japanophile. Imagine my excitement when I came to Japan and realized they were actually Japanese- with a lot more style and a way cooler name to boot!
I also love that they’ve taken “Made of Japan”, something I always assumed to be a Japanglish phrase, and made it meaningful. Rockstars, all of them!
Onitsuka Tigers are MADE OF JAPAN!
