We had a leisurely, cold, walk back to the hotel after leaving Nemo, and a friend of his Chris. The snow was falling, as well as the temperature, so it felt good to be back at the hotel. We were able to shake out and warm up, just in time to go down to the bar for a glass of wine before our evening with the Geisha girls.
We arrived at this beautiful Roykan (japanese hotel with tatami rooms) We were met by the "mama-san" fully dressed in a kimono, and all the helpers. We were taken to our own dining room, with a view of a gorgeous garden. The snow was falling, outside and it made it just picturesque!!
I was a little worried about the food, and had made it known I did not care for fish, or any innards if any kind. Nemo sat with us, as did his friend Chris from California. They brought us green tea to start with, then came the appetizers. There were WAS some slimy urchin type shell on my plate, but I ignored it and ate the shrimp!! (quietly gave the sea urchin to Nemo).
Soon our 'geisha girls' enter: let me kind of first explain to you what a REAL Geisha girl is. We have spent a total of 7 years in Japan, and I am convinced they are NOT prostitutes----they are part of the arts, and are purely there for the serving. ***which is totally different than the hostess bars you find in Roppongi and Shibuya**** After WW2, all geisha houses, tea houses, and bars were closed down and everyone had to go to work. Well, the prostitutes passed themselves off as 'geisha girls' to the military (Americans) and geisha girls kind of lost their status.
An apprentice geisha is usually under 21 and is called a maiko, once they have practiced for about 4 years they can them become a full on Geisha girl, and truthfully do become their own business. They run their own clients, and supervise other maiko. Ok, that is enough about that!!!
We had a maiko and geisha girl, I can not remember their names--we will call the younger one (19) Beniko-san, and the Geisha girl (24) Yamamote-san.. So in they walk in all there glory, their kimono's are gorgeous, hair is crazy beautiful, make-up is scarily pretty, and they have smiles on their faces.
They sit down to 'serve' us---pour us wine and beer--and THEY partake in the drinking also.
Beniko-san (the younger one)
Yamamote-san
It takes them 3 hours to prepare for an evening, the maiko that is her real hair, the other one is a wig.
The outside garden
They played games with us--think rock, paper, scissors
Steve beat her, and so then they both had to of course CHUG.
I will say it was a great experience, and one that most 'westerners' do not get to take part in. It is really a dying art in Japan, and mainly concentrated around Kyoto.
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