Drumming up business: A geisha teaches a tourist how to beat a "taiko" drum in the hot-spring resort city of Arawa, Fukui Prefecture, on Jan. 30. KYODO PHOTO
Now there are only 15. So the 130-year-old spa city is offering vacationers the chance at a hands-on geisha experience, to help keep alive the world of the traditional entertainers.
In Kyoto’s popular Gion entertainment district, as well, geisha hold mock tea ceremonies for ¥500 per person, while those in other parts of the country have organized events to attract visitors hoping to receive a firsthand look at the geisha system, which some say dates back to the second half of the 1600s.
Geisha have traditionally been regarded as entertainers skilled in singing, dancing, playing musical instruments and conversation, and patronized by wealthy people and politicians.
But the number of geisha has been on the decline due to deterioration of the economy and reduced opportunities for them to demonstrate their talents. Traditional inns are also steadily disappearing.
The geisha in Awara give guests a chance to meet them for ¥3,000 in a season-limited program. The meeting includes “janken” rock-paper-scissors play equivalent to tossing a coin to decide the winner in a game held in a dance training room of the “kemban,” or control office.
Men take off their jackets behind a folding screen set up as a partition and step into the room to the accompaniment of a shamisen played by geisha. Geisha and guests then play the roles of a mother, a tiger or other characters as part of the program.
The low fee compares with the going rate of ¥60,000 clients pay for service provided by a group of four geisha over a two-hour period.
The visitors get a rare opportunity to look at the backstage of the kemban, which also sends geisha to teahouses and restaurants. Normally, the place is off-limits to visitors. – read more at The Japan Times Online…