Geisha Dances (culture tip #10)

Firstly, I'd like to apologise for another cherry blossom post. But this one clearly explains what I meant by hanami in the last one.

Yesterday there was some kind of massive festival going on in the Geisha District. Last year I had to work, so this year I was going to lie and cheat my way there (if I had to). Plus it was a beautiful day!

On the way there, I passed through the tiny alleys behind the tea houses, and emerged upon this public dance. You could hear music everywhere though, and so it was still a surprise to basically walk right into this flute girl. The dancer's mask is pretty cool too!

The Geisha District is next to the Asano River. The party seemed to be happening all along the river, so we descended the giant, stone steps to find shelter under the pink ceiling of blossoms.

This is the perfect example of hanami! People having picnics under the blossoms, getting drunk in the afternoon. While sitting there, we saw some of the most beautiful kimonos, but every time I tried to take a picture, someone would step in front of my camera. It was really busy.

Well, I've been in Japan for more than a year now, so I figure it's about time that I had my picture taken with a real geisha.

This is the famous water dance. The main dancer had 3 costume changes during the show. The ninjas behind her just pulled off a red kimono.

Here is a sword dance she did to start off the performance. She's still wearing all three layers in this picture.

Tomoyo, me, and Kotaro. We asked some girl sitting next to the river to take our picture. It turned out she was like a professional photographer or something, because she managed to get the sakura in the background by hunching down close to the ground.