As a tourist, I cannot be privileged to spend an evening in what might be called an “authentic” experience of Geisha entertainment. So, the next best thing is buy a ticket for an abbreviated performance of geisha arts.
This performance, under the direction of “Lady Baba,” (not kidding!) was held in an over 200 year old teahouse in Kanazawa. Lady Baba is on the left in the picture. The other two were definitely talented in the arts of drums, the shamisen, and vocals.
The 30 or 40 of us in the audience enjoyed the time of music and learning something of Geisha art and dress.
As I understand it, and for several reasons, the art may be in serious decline. Traditionally, it is an art form for males performed by women. Still, the art itself is genuine – the instrumentals, the vocals, the art of entertainment in general, is valid now as ever.
For this reason, I enjoyed seeing and hearing the music as offered by someone who, in her way, is attempting to bring the art form to a mostly western public. Perhaps it will continue to evolve as, with so many other things in our world, it attempts to salve the common wounds of humanity. I hope so. There is beauty here and happiness no matter the difficult cultural accretions and, we may hope, a dying, albeit far too slowly, male chauvinism that has done so much damage to the world.
Autumn In Japan 