Wednesday, April 14, 2010

都をどり

Last night, I made more of my dreams come true. After the anticipation, Melody and I finally went to Kyoto (Gion) and attended the 138th Miyako Odori. For 4500 yen, you reserved 1st floor tickets with and attended a tea ceremony served by the geisha. (Now, when I say Tea Ceremony, this is a very cheesy here's your tea, it was made by a maiko, drink it, eat the snack and get the heck out of this room sort of feeling). You also have the option of exploring the garden at the theater, but we didn't have time to do that. :[ It was really pretty looking too.

We shuffled into the theater and took our seats. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any photos!! I was SO disappointed because I was looking forwards to getting good pictures of the Geisha, but I could not. Here are photos of what I did get.

Here is the Mochi snack with red bean paste inside. It is tastey with the Matcha. (Green Tea). You can slightly see my ticket and little info pamphlet. I eventually bought a program for 600 yen. It has good pictures and explanations inside.

Here is a photo of the stage with the curtain down before the performance. I like the paper lanterns that surround the stages.

Here is a photo of the balcony and stage on the right side. You can spot a Maiko.

Alas, I think I captured a Maiko staring this way. Haha. This was so impossible it was depressing.

A better photo of the Balcony. On the right side, underneath the balcony, the older, experienced Senior Geiko played Shamisen and spoke the story.

A Senior Maiko, I assume.

The balcony and stage on the left side. Under this balcony, there were many maiko and geiko (I assume) who played percussion and shakuhachi.

Here is the regular entrance to the dances. The crest on the banner is the crest for Gion Kobu. The kanji in the middle is "ko" in Gion kobu's name. The eight circles stand for the other 8 subparts of the city.


Sakura

The entrance for the "Special Ticket" Guests.

Paper lantern including the crest.


The ichiriki tea house! I've read about this place a lot! Can you imagine the feeling of seeing it materialized?

Catch ya later Gion. I'll be back. For sure!

Now, I didn't leave the performance completely up to mystery for you guys. I was a bad girl and took some recordings. Hehe. Please follow this link to hear them: http://drop.io/michiru066

2 comments:

  1. Wow. I am so happy for you. I imagine you will be coming home soon. We miss you. Thank you for sharing your experiences.

    I quit the moose.... politics and BS I will now do without. LOL Long story. Sorry for error above. :)

    Love you much
    Mom

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  2. The mochi looks beautiful with the flower decoration. ^.^

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