Kyoto take 2: Maiko-ness! ^____^
Monday was declared Maiko day :D We started off with a tour by this old, chipper Japanese guy who goes by the name of Johnny Hillwalker. His English is pretty good, and at 2000 yen for 5 hours, his tour wasn't a bad deal at all. Our first stop was Nishi Hongan-ji, a large Buddhist temple just north of Kyoto station. This is the place that also claims to have the world's largest building...largest or not, it's still impressive in its scale. It's also being closed for renovation and won't be open again for another 7 years (just the one building, not the whole temple complex). I feel pretty lucky to have gotten to see it. Other spots on the tour were a nice garden, a small temple with this lovely statue and a cool dragon-shaped waterspout (many temples and shrines have dragon waterspouts. I wonder what the significance is.) and the smallest of the six Geisha districts (don't know its name). In this area our guide also brought us to Nintendo's first office...which before video games made playing cards (in fact they still do). At about this point Leah and I had to leave the tour early to go to our maiko studio appointment.
On the way we got a little lost in Gion, and we spotted two real maiko going to get their hair done. Obviously they were wearing regular day kimono; if it weren't for their hair we'd have never known who they were. Leah asked them directions in Japanese and they were so shocked to have foreigners speaking to them; their reactions were kind of funny, actually, and typically Japanese :) They pointed us in the right direction but a little bit later we got lost again and had to ask the owner of a restaurant where the building with the studio was. It's so hard to locate an address in Japan, because they haven't caught on to the whole concept of actually naming or numbering streets in any consistent fashion. Such a pain, it's a wonder anyone's mail actually gets delivered in this country! We did arrive on time though, fortunately.
I chose our studio from a list of about 20 in Kyoto that all do the same thing: dress tourists up like maiko. It was a bit expensive (about $160 US), but I felt my money was well-spent. The whole process took about an hour. First they had us change into undershirts and silk shorts with tabi socks. The makeup alone took about 40 minutes to do. I never realized it was such an involved process, and when it was done it took awhile for me to be able to recognize myself in the mirror. It's so weird having your entire face painted bone-white with your eyebrows and lips drawn back on. The kimono took only about 20 minutes, if you believe that. Before we started we were given a photo album with various kimono to choose from and their prices. I picked a light blue one with a black obi decorated with gold butterflies. I actually had to ask specifically for that obi, because they tried to give me a red and gold one. It was pretty, but I wanted the black one with the butterflies and I had to be a little insistent about it. The end result was great though (here's a view from the back which shows the obi, and a closer view of me). Maiko wear a special kind of kimono with a very long, padded hem that has to be held up when you walk. There is an unbelievable amount of padding under that kimono; my waist completely disappeared (because the ideal womanly shape in Japan is a column. I kid you not.) The Japanese also find the neck erotic the way Western men like a glimpse of leg, so the maiko kimono is worn low on the neck, exposing your neck at the back. Standing and having pictures taken in the studio was fine, then they asked us to kneel for some other poses. Apparently there is an art to this; I tried to sit and was immediately stopped by the woman, who frantically folded the front of the kimono a certain way so I wouldn't wreck it when I knelt in seiza. Oi -_-;; She had to help me down, and then after the pictures it took her holding both my hands to help me up again. When you have that much extra cloth around your legs, it's really hard to move. I was a bit relieved when they showed us how to lift up the hem and hold it in our left hand (and there's a specific hand pose for that too. The Japanese are so anal-retentive!). Ah, now I could walk...but the wig is really heavy and so is the super-long obi, which hangs all the way down your back. It's quite a balancing act.
They took some poses of me and Leah together (this is my favorite one) and then it was time to do the walk-around outside, which we paid an extra 1000 yen for. Leah was actually pretty nervous about doing this, but by the time were dressed up we were both pretty excited :) We stepped in the tall geta (wooden clogs) that the maiko wear, spent a few minutes figuring out how to balance on them (it's not too easy, believe me) and then we were off. The walk-around was great; the studio is really close to the canal where we'd taken photos of the maiko the previous day, and we walked out there into the middle of tourist-photo land. The minute we came out in to the open there was this loud chorus of "Ooohs!" and "Ahhhs!" from all over the place and then the Japanese tourists were all over us snapping photos. We felt like movie stars ^_^ It was hilarious; I'm sure they knew were were gaijin (all they had to do was look at our faces) but they didn't seem to care, and honestly in their position I wouldn't either. So right now I'm in several someones' photo memory books of Kyoto. Cool ^_^
We walked all over the place and the people from the studio hovered around us, taking dozens of great photos with both our cameras (they've obviously had a lot of experience with this). They also orchestrated some poses under cherry trees and such, but a lot of it was nicely natural-looking. Apparently they have everyone do this pose with one person reaching for the other's hair ornaments (we saw other pictures of this pose on the walls of the studio). I have no idea why, but it looks all right I guess. There are so many good photos they took of us I had trouble choosing, so I just pulled out my favorites for you to look at, enjoy! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Peter Macintosh happened to wander by with one of his friends and we waved him over for a photo. He's well-known in the Gion community; the studio people knew exactly who he was and were delighted that he was willing to take pictures with us. After that we headed back to the studio and transformed back into ordinary foreigners; I was quite sad to do so. I can see how some young Japanese girls are attracted to the glamor of a maiko's life.
Later that night we went wandering around the geisha district across the river, Pontocho, and I spotted another maiko standing waiting for a taxi. Did I mention Kyoto was an awesome place?
Next: Himeji Castle and other fun sights!
On the way we got a little lost in Gion, and we spotted two real maiko going to get their hair done. Obviously they were wearing regular day kimono; if it weren't for their hair we'd have never known who they were. Leah asked them directions in Japanese and they were so shocked to have foreigners speaking to them; their reactions were kind of funny, actually, and typically Japanese :) They pointed us in the right direction but a little bit later we got lost again and had to ask the owner of a restaurant where the building with the studio was. It's so hard to locate an address in Japan, because they haven't caught on to the whole concept of actually naming or numbering streets in any consistent fashion. Such a pain, it's a wonder anyone's mail actually gets delivered in this country! We did arrive on time though, fortunately.
I chose our studio from a list of about 20 in Kyoto that all do the same thing: dress tourists up like maiko. It was a bit expensive (about $160 US), but I felt my money was well-spent. The whole process took about an hour. First they had us change into undershirts and silk shorts with tabi socks. The makeup alone took about 40 minutes to do. I never realized it was such an involved process, and when it was done it took awhile for me to be able to recognize myself in the mirror. It's so weird having your entire face painted bone-white with your eyebrows and lips drawn back on. The kimono took only about 20 minutes, if you believe that. Before we started we were given a photo album with various kimono to choose from and their prices. I picked a light blue one with a black obi decorated with gold butterflies. I actually had to ask specifically for that obi, because they tried to give me a red and gold one. It was pretty, but I wanted the black one with the butterflies and I had to be a little insistent about it. The end result was great though (here's a view from the back which shows the obi, and a closer view of me). Maiko wear a special kind of kimono with a very long, padded hem that has to be held up when you walk. There is an unbelievable amount of padding under that kimono; my waist completely disappeared (because the ideal womanly shape in Japan is a column. I kid you not.) The Japanese also find the neck erotic the way Western men like a glimpse of leg, so the maiko kimono is worn low on the neck, exposing your neck at the back. Standing and having pictures taken in the studio was fine, then they asked us to kneel for some other poses. Apparently there is an art to this; I tried to sit and was immediately stopped by the woman, who frantically folded the front of the kimono a certain way so I wouldn't wreck it when I knelt in seiza. Oi -_-;; She had to help me down, and then after the pictures it took her holding both my hands to help me up again. When you have that much extra cloth around your legs, it's really hard to move. I was a bit relieved when they showed us how to lift up the hem and hold it in our left hand (and there's a specific hand pose for that too. The Japanese are so anal-retentive!). Ah, now I could walk...but the wig is really heavy and so is the super-long obi, which hangs all the way down your back. It's quite a balancing act.
They took some poses of me and Leah together (this is my favorite one) and then it was time to do the walk-around outside, which we paid an extra 1000 yen for. Leah was actually pretty nervous about doing this, but by the time were dressed up we were both pretty excited :) We stepped in the tall geta (wooden clogs) that the maiko wear, spent a few minutes figuring out how to balance on them (it's not too easy, believe me) and then we were off. The walk-around was great; the studio is really close to the canal where we'd taken photos of the maiko the previous day, and we walked out there into the middle of tourist-photo land. The minute we came out in to the open there was this loud chorus of "Ooohs!" and "Ahhhs!" from all over the place and then the Japanese tourists were all over us snapping photos. We felt like movie stars ^_^ It was hilarious; I'm sure they knew were were gaijin (all they had to do was look at our faces) but they didn't seem to care, and honestly in their position I wouldn't either. So right now I'm in several someones' photo memory books of Kyoto. Cool ^_^
We walked all over the place and the people from the studio hovered around us, taking dozens of great photos with both our cameras (they've obviously had a lot of experience with this). They also orchestrated some poses under cherry trees and such, but a lot of it was nicely natural-looking. Apparently they have everyone do this pose with one person reaching for the other's hair ornaments (we saw other pictures of this pose on the walls of the studio). I have no idea why, but it looks all right I guess. There are so many good photos they took of us I had trouble choosing, so I just pulled out my favorites for you to look at, enjoy! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Peter Macintosh happened to wander by with one of his friends and we waved him over for a photo. He's well-known in the Gion community; the studio people knew exactly who he was and were delighted that he was willing to take pictures with us. After that we headed back to the studio and transformed back into ordinary foreigners; I was quite sad to do so. I can see how some young Japanese girls are attracted to the glamor of a maiko's life.
Later that night we went wandering around the geisha district across the river, Pontocho, and I spotted another maiko standing waiting for a taxi. Did I mention Kyoto was an awesome place?
Next: Himeji Castle and other fun sights!