Into the secret life of the Geisha in Japan! Part 1 of 2!

Photo. A Geisha goes to work in the evening in Gion, Kyoto in Japan. © Travel Explorations.

Geisha are professional hostesses who entertain guests through various performing arts in tea houses called O-chaya. One evening we took our way into the Gion geiko district (hanamachi) in Kyoto to find out more about the unique Geisha culture.

This story is based on our journey around in the Pacific in 1997. Our last stop was in Japan. We found especially the ancient city Kyoto fascinating. Kyoto was Japan's capital and the emperor's residence from 794 until 1868. It is now the country's seventh largest city with a population of 1.4 million people. The city is famous for its beautiful ancient buildings, but it’s also famous for the secret world of the Geisha. Since the first Western people sat their feet on land in Japan, they have been fascinated and curious about the Geisha culture. Now it was time for us to solve the mystery about the Geisha.

When we arrived in Kyoto we could admire ancient buildings and beautiful lush gardens around in the city. It was big contrast to observe all the old well preserved old buildings in the middle of the modern city.

It was a dark and quite district. It was hard to believe that it was something going on here. Everything looked closed. We walked curiously and determined down the street, which was lined up with small wooden houses. They all looked the same, and so far there was no sign of any Geisha. As the darkness fell, we could see the round white lanterns began to glow in front of each wooden door.

My friend had been in the area earlier this day and observed plenty of the Geishas rushing home from. He got some smiles, but most of them passed him quickly without giving him a glance. Now it was exciting to see what we could find out about the culture. First of all we needed to find someone to talk to who could tell little bit about the Geisha and what was going on in the district.

We walked around for a long time without anything happened. So we noticed a man outside one of the buildings. Finally we met some Geishas. It took a while, but suddenly a Geisha showed up. Unfortunately she was too far away to see exactly where she took her way. She vanished into the wooden house. We walked towards where she entered, but it was almost impossible to find the doorway.

We stood outside for a while, and tried to look inside where we believed the Geisha was, but we didn’t see or hear anything. We took some small steps closer and kept our breath, and then we could here voices inside the house. After a while a man opened the door and told us to leave. There was no chance for us to enter the house. This was the Japanese men’s world. No men outside the country were allowed to join the Geishas in the tea houses.

We waited patiently outside to see some other Geishas, and became rewarded. Some emerged from the dark approaching us in the street, and quickly passed us in the silence. The Geishas looked like creatures from another world. Sometimes we could just see their shadow moving along the street. Fortunately we also observed some of them by light from the lanterns. The Geishas were like angels falling from heaven with white painted faces, swinging silver ornaments in their hair, and dressed in beautiful decorated kimonos.

This story continues. Read more on Into the secret life of the Geisha - Part 2.

Stein Morten Lund, 10 September 2006

Additional information
The Japanese word for Japan, Nihon (Nippon), means source of the sun. The Ainu, the original inhabitants of Japan, are related to the people of Siberia.