In August last year, when I went on a 4-day Kansai trip with my other half Yuka, there was one place in particular she was dying to go to: Kyoto. Despite being the actual Japanese half of our entity, she had never been, where as this was going to be my third time! Of course she wanted to see Kinkaku-ji (The Golden Pavillion) and Kiyomizudera, but having already seen them two times before I was more keen on our comedy-trip to Osaka (that blog-post WILL follow!). However, there was one thing we agreed that was bound to happen i Kyoto. Without even muttering a word, just one look at each other and we knew what we both were thinking: we have to become Maiko-san.
With Kyoto being one of the last places (and most famous one) to see Geishas and Maikos, it has done its utmost to make it a part of is key selling-points towards tourists. Which is why you can find Maiko-studios throughout the city, dedicated to turning everyday school girls and fantasizing teenagers into beautiful and mysterious Geishas, Maikos and Oiran.
Now, to explain a bit about the differences:
Each Maiko and Geisha belong to a teahouse that works in the same way as an agency. The Maikos and Geishas are hired via the tea house to perform at business meetings, social events etc. They are professional dancers, singers musicians and entertainers, and have trained for years to perfect their level of performance. In ancient times small children from age 13 and up (sometimes younger) would start their training towards becoming a Geisha. Nowadays most girls join a tea house after graduating High School at the age of 17 or 18 – some to the delight of their parents and others in despite of.
Maiko (舞子 = literally meaning “dancing child”, deriving from mai = dance and ko = child) is the first step towards becoming a Geisha. Before you can even think about taking on the title of Geisha (芸者 = literally meaning “artist”, “craftsman” or “performer”, deriving from gei = art, craft, performance and sha = person, type, character). You can be a Maiko for years before becoming a Geisha, and you are the little sister of the Geishas of your household. Maikos are the background dancers to the Geishas performance and are often present when the Geishas are working, but must never talk unless they are spoken to or try to outshine the Geisha. They are apprentices and must learn by observing their big sisters. The main differences when visually distinguishing between a Geisha and a Maiko is the amount of accessory they each carry. Quite differently to the West, the less accessory one carries the higher in rank you are. The Maiko-san (or Maiko-han as it’s pronounced in the Kyoto-dialect) has a hairpin with beads or flowers on it, and/or various hair designs and clippings in her hairdo. The Geisha often has less accessories in her hair and keep a more simple hairstyle. The Geisha’s make-up is also more simple compared to the Maiko-san, to show that she is more mature and has a more natural beauty. Often Geishas won’t wear the white face-mask at all, unless an occasion calls for it. Geishas Kimono is also simpler and often less colorful, and the obi (waist-band to tie the kimono) is often tied in a more simple way. This is all to show that she is more mature, and often the kimono style resembles that of a married woman (fx. the Maiko-san will have long sleeves, which is only worn by unmarried women (https://inmyjapan.wordpress.com/2014/01/19/seijinshiki-coming-of-age-day/) and the Geisha will often have her obi tied in a taiko-drum style which is often worn by married women).
The Oirans were high-class prostitutes. The highest ranking girl amongst all of the prostitutes in the red light district would be named Oiran, and she could choose which men she would take on as customers. An Oirans career ran until she got married or until she retired to become he’d of the house she herself used to work for, taking care of the finances. When a new Oiran was chosen, she would be displayed for everyone to see in a parade that would take her through the main street of the red light district, wearing some very high plateau-geta (for more: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=oiran+walk). The image of the Oiran has become quite popular in recent time as a symbol of a sexy and devious female character (displayed excellently by Tsuchiya Anna in “Sakuran”!), which has encouraged a lot of young girls to choose the Oiran style of Kimono as their dress-up attire for Seijinshiki (Coming of Age day).
So, my friend and I decided to become Maikos. We signed up for an offer where one could be dressed as Maiko and have 8 pictures taken for you + 20 minutes of free photo shoot. We showed up at the studio at 11 (me being the only foreigner of course), and was presented with a variety of kimonos to choose from. Yuka, being more in contact with her delicate, feminine side than me, chose a beautiful green/gold kimono – where as I went for the Yakuza look with an all black ♡ Before we knew it we were getting smeared with white paint in the face – me looking like Pierrot and Yuka looking like Sadako from “The Ring” and a black wig tugged around our ears. The next step was to suck in our tummys and tighten the obi around our waists and VOILA! – we were Maiko-sans!
It was one of the most fun experiences in my life, and despite obviously not being Japanese (which made my entire Maiko look somewhat questionable) I felt beautiful, gracious and elegant! The make-up took about 20 minutes for each, and then we spent an additional 45-50 minutes afterwards doing our own (whoops…).
If you’re taking the girl-trip to Japan, I definitely recommend trying this experience before end the day with a wafu-parfait in one of the many small Japanese-styled cafés hidden away in the small streets of Kyoto.
This is where we went –>
夢工房 – Yume Koubou
2F JKK Bldg., 45 kitanouchi-cho
kujou Minami-ku, Kyoto City
Webpage: http://www.yumekoubou.info/english/
In My Japan 