Japan in Motion---Pro-web casting from across Japan.

Maiko

From Canadian girl-next-door to maiko in just over an hour.
At Maica, they'll transform you in to a geisha in the heart of old Gion!

Did you enjoy playing dress-up when you were a child?
Are you interested in the culture of the geisha?
Have we got a treat for you!

■Maiko for a Day

maiko 1

Geisha, or Geiko as they prefer to be called in Kyoto, are a subject of confusion and misunderstanding even to most modern Japanese. Geisha are entertainers, not prostitutes, and although their number has shrunk dramatically in modern times they do, indeed, still exist. And in Kyoto, the traditional course of apprenticeship is alive and well.
In former times, geisha began their training in childhood. Often, they were the daughters of geisha, and brought up in the lifestyle. Today, girls wishing to become geisha will often begin their training after finishing junior high or high school.

The training involves four stages.

In the first, the girls are called shikomi. By day, the girls attend classes to become acquainted with the traditions, dance, dress, and formalized speech of the profession. In the evening, the girls work as maids in the geisha house, staying up to greet their seniors as they return from appointments.

Upon passing a very demanding examination, the girls are passed along to the next stage of training and become minarai. This stage is brief, but critical. For the first time, the girls accompany their “older sisters” to engagements, dressed in the most ornate kimonos they will ever wear. They also often work in a teahouse that has an established relationship with the geisha house. They are not full performers yet, but are entitled to one third of a geisha’s fee for their attendance at banquets. All of this is intended to expose them to aspects of the arts that are best acquired by experience.

The next rung on the ladder is to become a maiko, the famous “dancing child” whose makeup and kimono are most often associated with geisha in the West. In Kyoto, this stage of the training can extend as long as five years, during which the maiko continues to follow her older mentor to banquets and gatherings, perfecting her musical, dancing, conversational and serving skills. It’s also during this period that the girl begins to forge her own identity, building a reputation and circle of admirers that will ensure her success when, at last, she takes her new working name and is promoted to a full geisha.

Maiko Transformation 2

In Kyoto, you’re most likely to spot real maiko and geisha in Gion or Pontocho. Elsewhere, she’s most likely a “one-day maiko,” a tourist who’s gone to one of the several shops that dress customers in the makeup, kimono, and hairstyle of a maiko. This can be a lot of fun, by the way, and is a memorable way of gaining a new understanding of the rigors of the geisha lifestyle. The transformation takes about an hour, a process which certainly takes real maiko longer, and which they must perform every day. If you have the time and an interest in this aspect of Japanese culture, it might be a real high point of your visit.

● Maica (Costuming Studio)

>>Address
4-319 Miyagawa St. Higashiyama-ward, Kyoto

>>Access
Bus
JR Kyoto station===(City bus No.205, 5min.)====Kawaramachi-Matsubara===(On foot, 1 min.)===Maica

Taxi
JR Kyoto station===(5 min.)===Maica

>>Open Hours
9:00-19:00 (Reservation is required.)

>>Reservations
Reservations: 7:00～22:00
TEL：075-551-1661

>>Fees
From 6,500 yen
For details, click
here to view Maica web site.

>>Map
Kyoto city map>>Click here to view.
Maica access map (Maica web site) >> Click here to view.

>>WebSite
Maica web site>>Click here to view.

-Matt Mangham　

>>Hotels and Ryokans in Kyoto