Mark Does Japan: Day 29 (Geiko Day)

15 November 2025 Filed in: Photography | Travel

Friday, 14 November 2025

I was looking forward to today as I had booked a behind the scenes tour and performance at a Geiko ochaya (teahouse) but first there was more walking. Kanazawa has three Geiko (only in Tokyo are they called Geisha) districts, Nishi Chaya, Higashi Chaya, and Kazue-machi Chaya. Higashi Chaya is the largest and has the most tourists, Kazue-machi Chaya is smaller, next to the river with narrow alleys and stairs, while Nishi Chaya is a single street.

The performance was in the afternoon at an ochaya in Nishi Chaya district, where there are 5 teahouses. Nishi Chaya district was also the closest to my hotel and the other two are close to each other but on the other side of Kanazawa Castle Park. The plan was to spend the morning at the other two, walk back to my hotel, grab a kombini lunch and head to Nishi Chaya in plenty of time to check in.

First stop was Kazue-machi Chaya district. It was the closest of the other two and I hoped it would be quieter early in the morning. Certainly when I got there there was hardly anyone there, which is a big plus for taking photos. There was just a group sketching the townhouses next to the river.

After wandering around the couple of streets and back alleys that make up the district I left to cross the Asano River to Higashi Chaya, and yes it was swarming with tourists. This district also has a lot of shops, restaurants, inns, etc., in its central part. It was quite nice in the back streets and I discovered a temple with seven O-Jizo-san, representing the 7 men who in 1858 instigated a protest at the high price of rice after crops failed and the resulting famine of the commoners. While the local ruler acceded to the protesters demands and let the castle’s reserve supply be sold at wholesale prices, which dropped the price, he punished the 7 men who he considered the instigators. Two of them died in prison and the other 5 were hung. The seven O-Jizo-san statues were erected in their honour. The temple holds a memorial service for them every year. After that I saw what I thought was a wedding couple in their finery and a photo shoot.

After walking back and raiding Lawson Station for lunch it was a relatively short walk to Nishi Chaya. Not much going on, aside from the police car and a policeman talking to a woman 🙂 Maybe 15 minutes to wander around, visit the Nishi Chaya Museum, consider if I needed an icecream (no I didn’t) before it was time to check in. Only 13 for this event, a mix of people, 2 from NZ, 3 from Switzerland, 3 more from Australia and the rest from the USA. The event was in two parts, a tour of the house and then the “performance”, which included one of the Geiko going through her bag to show us what she carried around, a musical & dance performance (including everyone having a go at the drums) and some Q&A. There were two Geiko, the proprietress who was the musician, and a younger Geiko, who was the dancer. These are distinct roles and as they get older they progress from dancer to musician even though they can all play instruments and in this ochaya the 3 Geiko associated with it can play the Japanese flute since the founder of the ochaya was an expert. Neither of the Geiko could speak English so we also had an interpreter.

No photography allowed on the house tour except when we were shown how the kimono were stored (flat in Japanese paper to counter humidity) we were allowed to photograph just the silk kimono. The tour had started with some etiquette on where and how to take off shoes and enter “the house”. You are already inside but there is a step up to the tatami mat and there is technique to do this properly to ensure the house stays clean. Also there are two separate sections, one for Geiko and one for clients. We were taken into three rooms on the ground floor, the office (clients sometimes visit the proprietress there to discuss events), a room with a small shrine and temple that no one is usually allowed to visit, and the small Geiko’s dressing room (no one except Geikos are supposed to go in there). There is also a small kitchen downstairs where snacks and drinks can be prepared. Originally Geiko lived there but not now, they live nearby and “commute”. Also while they now use an app for scheduling they only use paper books to keep track of accounts and clients are invoiced once a month.

The tour continued upstairs where there were three rooms of various sizes for entertaining and the “tour” part ended when we got to the largest one and then we could take photographs and video.

The dancer Geiko (Akino-san) is the one made up with the white makeup. Before electric light they were relying on candlepower and the white, black and red makeup allowed the dancer’s facial expressions to be seen. Akino-san then proceeded to show us her kimono and how it differed from the ones you might see people wear on the street (silk versus cotton, the pattern design) and then talked about what she carries and the restrictions, she can’t wear jewellery so carries what is effectively a small fob watch in her kimono. Ornaments on the wig are fine so she has a large selection of them, also the hair comb she uses is associated with the season so she has four of them. As she’s a dancer she had what seemed like an endless supply of fans. The type of fan is particular to a song and as any song could be requested she has to be prepared. She handed out fans and we were instructed on how to open them, not at all easy, whereas she could just power flick it open like the guy at Matsumoto Castle.

Then we had a performance of the Japanese flute. Very haunting music. It would be nice to get a copy of the piece. Then we had some dancing and finally they brought out the taiko drums, only Geiko in Kanazawa play drums. After that we all got to try the drums with the help of Akino-san and then it was over.

It was supposed to last for 90 minutes but went for nearly 120. They only do this event once a week, on a Friday, and the season is limited (next week is the final for the year and it starts again in March). It costs 14,300 Yen per person but that’s a steal.

After that it was back to the hotel to hit the coin laundry 🙂

Now onto some photos…

I entered Kazue-machi Chaya via one of the laneways and stairs.