Japanese Geisha Perform at Azuma Odori Festival's Centenary

TaiwanPlus News

Japanese geisha are taking to the stage in Tokyo for the weeklong Azuma Odori festival. This year marks the centenary of the annual event, which has carried on a tradition despite dwindling numbers.

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00:00These are some of Japan's few remaining geisha. Historically hired to entertain the country's

00:13wealthy elite, they're in all their splendor here in Tokyo, rehearsing for the annual Uzumodori

00:19festival. The event is now on its 100th year and for the first time ever, it's featuring geisha

00:25from 19 different regions. Each region has its own characteristics, so even though we're all

00:33geisha, we don't dance in the same way. I hope people will enjoy those differences, like the

00:38kimono patterns or dance styles. It's rare to have geisha from 19 different entertainment quarters

00:43gathered like this, so I hope everyone enjoys it. Kawaku is one of the 180 geisha performing at this

00:50year's festival. She was drawn to the profession by her love of dancing and the shamisen, a

00:55classical three-stringed instrument. It allowed her to earn a living in traditional arts, which,

01:00as a woman, would have otherwise been challenging. But the profession is often misunderstood. Not to

01:06be mistaken for a courtesan, a geisha is, as the Japanese translation indicates, a person of the

01:12arts. Their mastery of traditional art forms historically made them a key part of government

01:17banquet culture, and those skills take lengthy, tough training to hone.

01:22It usually takes about 10 years before a young woman becomes recognized as a proper geisha

01:27dancer. Many quit before getting there, and some give up even after finally becoming good

01:32dancers. It's really hard to train the younger generation.

01:35Those rehearsing here are the ones that didn't give up. Some have been performing for five or six

01:49decades. But while their abilities haven't diminished, the 40 geisha that remain in Kawaku's district in

01:55Tokyo are a far cry from the numbers during the industry's former heyday. And the challenge of

02:01training younger generations isn't the only thing that's whittled away at its popularity.

02:06From the 1960s onwards, the number of geisha declined because men who used to be their clients

02:12changed. Men lost interest in the traditional banquet culture and geisha entertainment. So the

02:17number of geisha also began to drop.

02:20As interest in the art form continues to decline, Iwashita says Japanese people have no idea what the

02:26former geisha world was truly like. He recalls a time when every town, even in rural areas,

02:32had traditional high-end restaurants where geisha would entertain.

02:41While geisha performances are now a rare sight, those in the industry hope they can find a way

02:47to reverse the declining trend. The future may be uncertain, but for now, geisha celebrates no small

02:54feat of shining in this festival's spotlight a century on. Kama Xu and Izzy Wells for Taiwan Plus.

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