When you talk about Japanese culture, geisha comes up in your mind soon or later.
In Kyoto geisha are called Maiko (trainee girls between 15 – 20 years old) and Geiko (professionals over 20 years old).
And you might have an idea that you can meet maiko/geiko somewhere in Kyoto, probably in Gion area.
But they don’t walk around the streets all the time, and if you happen to see any geisha looking girls on the daytime, they are 99 % tourists just wearing geisha costumes (Basically real geisha are not allowed to have mobile phones so they never take photos on the street !).
Maiko/geiko practice their performance such as singing and dancing during the daytime and they go to a restaurant called ochaya to work in the evening. So around 6 or 7 pm they might show up in the area called hanamachi such as Gion and Miyagawacho.
However, it doesn’t mean you have a chance to take a photo with her nor talk with her. Actually these tourists have been impolite these days and geiko/maiko don’t really want to walk in the town but they just use a cab to restaurants to work.
Then how can we join a geisha dinner to spend some time with them ??
Basically ochaya restaurants have culture of “no visitors without invitation”, and you’re not welcome to the places if you don’t know anybody there.
But now we have a good news for you, as we have some restaurants where even tourists for the first visit can get a chance to have a dinner with maiko/geiko… !!!
Here in one of the restaurants in Gion, you get kaiseki cuisine (Japanese traditional course cuisine).
And a maiko / geiko shows up during the meal and she serves drink to you and you can have a chat with her.
When you finish meal more or less, the maiko starts dance performance.
It’s so elegantly beautiful … !!
After the dance, you will play a traditional party game with the maiko.
The game is quite simple and anybody can enjoy it.
You might even get a prize if you win! If you lose, though, you might get to experience another Japanese tradition: a little penalty game (Don’t worry, it’s never serious! )
Of course you have a lot of chances to take photos of her with you !
During this 2 hour program, you have a plenty of chance to see their elegant performance and learn how geisha life is.
If you want to experience something traditional and special, geisha night is what you can’t miss !!
CONTACT US for Geisha Dinner !!
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