{"id":87920,"date":"2016-06-17T11:12:11","date_gmt":"2016-06-17T02:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=feature&p=87920&lang=en"},"modified":"2018-01-16T18:59:20","modified_gmt":"2018-01-16T09:59:20","slug":"introducing-koharu-modern-geisha-fukuoka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/introducing-koharu-modern-geisha-fukuoka\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Koharu: A Modern Geisha in Fukuoka"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you thought geisha<\/em> belonged to Japan\u2019s past, think again. A small but dedicated group of women continue to keep the tradition alive right here in Fukuoka. We met their newest member: an English-speaking, world-traveling geisha<\/em> who dreams of performing abroad. <\/p>\n

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Say \u201cgeisha<\/em>\u201d and most people wouldn\u2019t think of 21st-century Japan. Old Kyoto, perhaps, but not many would picture downtown Fukuoka. And even fewer, no doubt, would imagine a globe-trotting graduate in commerce. <\/p>\n

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Allow us, then, to introduce you to Koharu, the most recently qualified geisha<\/em> \u2014 or geigi<\/em>, as such entertainers are known here \u2014 working in Fukuoka today. She\u2019s not the only one: Hakata Kenban<\/a>, the association that trains and manages the city\u2019s geigi<\/em>, has 17 active performers. When Koharu joined in July 2014, though, she was the first new apprentice in five years. <\/p>\n

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Bandit Geisha<\/strong>
\nTimes have certainly changed: around a century ago, Fukuoka boasted five separate kenban<\/em> and more than 2,000 geigi<\/em>. The city\u2019s geigi<\/em> gained a reputation throughout Japan as direct and spirited entertainers. They even earned themselves the nickname \u201cbazoku geisha<\/em>,\u201d bandit geisha<\/em> \u2014 not because of any criminal activity, but because they were considered as gutsy as any horse-riding outlaw. <\/p>\n

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Today, Koharu says, Hakata geigi<\/em> are still known for their openness, brightness and friendliness. She and her colleagues still practice the same arts \u2014 traditional dance, playing the shamisen<\/em> (lute) and tsuzumi<\/em> (drum), welcoming guests and making conversation \u2014 that their predecessors did, and often they still perform them in the same setting: ryotei<\/em>, exclusive restaurants reserved for high-level entertaining.<\/p>\n

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Elegant Ambassadors<\/strong>
\nUnlike geigi<\/em> before them, however, modern geigi<\/em> are also called upon to participate in parades, festivals, conventions and other public events. In Fukuoka, you can see them on stage at the Hakata Dontaku Port Festival in May, as well as the Hakata Odori performance in December. As more and more foreign tourists arrive, the city\u2019s geigi<\/em> increasingly find themselves entertaining visitors from overseas. The first time Koharu saw geigi<\/em> close up was at an event at Hakata Port, where they were greeting travelers off a cruise ship; now she does the same thing herself.<\/p>\n

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What led her there? At the time when she encountered those geigi<\/em>, Koharu \u2014 or Mari, as she\u2019s called when she\u2019s not performing \u2014 had spent two years working as a kimono<\/em> saleswoman. A Fukuoka University degree in commerce behind her, she\u2019d traveled to Germany for her family\u2019s jewelry business and to Cambodia with an NGO. But when she saw geigi<\/em> in action, with their white make-up and bright kimono<\/em>, she decided to switch paths and embark on the demanding process of training to be like them.<\/p>\n

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A Culture Worth Preserving<\/strong>
\nWhile those close to her were mostly encouraging, some had reservations about her choice. Like many people, they assumed that geisha were the same as oiran \u2014 courtesans. (They\u2019re not.) Now, having learned what geigi<\/em> really do and seen Koharu do it, they approve. <\/p>\n

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Koharu says she is lucky to have the support of friends, too, who appreciate traditional Japanese culture. They assured her throughout her apprenticeship that what she was doing was important, she says. She also benefited from the assistance of the Fukuoka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which paid her a salary while she was training as part of its efforts to promote traditional art and culture.<\/p>\n

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Full-Fledged <\/strong>
\nIt took months of music, dance and conversation lessons from senior geigi<\/em> \u2014 all of them strict teachers, Koharu says \u2014 but she is now a full-fledged geigi<\/em> herself. It\u2019s a privilege, she says. She gets to show visitors the best of Fukuoka: its unique culture, its history, its friendliness. Whether on stage at the Hakataza Theater or greeting foreign dignitaries, Koharu says she is proud to represent her hometown \u2013 like a kind of ambassador. <\/p>\n

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What\u2019s more, being a geigi<\/em> allows her to meet all kinds of people, both visitors and Fukuoka locals. \u201cThis is my treasure,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

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Hakata Kenban: hakatakenban.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Text: Jessica Phelan
\nPhotos: Masaki Kobori, Yuichiro Hirakawa, Nick Szasz<\/p>\n

Originally published in Fukuoka Now Magazine (fn211<\/a>, Jul. 2016)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you thought geisha belonged to Japan\u2019s past, think again. A small but dedicated group of women continue to keep the tradition alive right here in Fukuoka. We met their newest member: an English-speaking, world-traveling geisha who dreams of performing abroad… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":87926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"87920","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4914],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-others","location-fukuoka-prefecture","en-US"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/fn211-geisha-007.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87920"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106421,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87920\/revisions\/106421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}