I came across a very interesting read the other day and today while watching the final of the Sumo Basho, and drinking a couple of beers, i went through the archives of the Geisha Blogger
Apparently Ichimame , who`s blog is titled “Ichi”, has had quite a lot of media attentiion over the years. It has a Japanese and English version what gets upwards of a few hundred thousand visits a day .. she`s currently having a break and hasn`t posted since late December. Update, it seems it was December 2007 since she last posted, wonder what happened to her??
The blog is an interesting read and it`s not difficult to see its written by a person motivated and disciplined enough to undertake the lifestyle she has.
If you have any interest at all in Japan and the life of a Maiko and then Geisha i suggest you read this site.
Also, If you haven`t seen Memoirs of a Geisha i suggest you watch it, i learnt a lot and although things have changed considerably it`s still a great watch.
I`ll be visiting Kyoto in April for the second time and hope to run into some Maiko and Geisha and i might even stop in for a cuppa.
Thanks again to Terada-san for enlightening me on this site.
Here`s a link to the English version of the Geisha Blogger.
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nice post! i passed it on at Black Tokyo.
It’s a good read …. i found it very interesting.
Memoirs of a Geisha is dreadful and has very questionable factual accuracy. Kenji Mizoguchi’s 1953 movie A Geisha is a lot better. He also made a movie about geisha in 1936, Sisters of the Gion, which I haven’t watched yet. It takes place during the same period as Memoirs, so it should be interesting to compare (and now that I think about it, it kind of blows my mind that it doesn’t just take place during that period, but was made during that period).
There’s also this BBC documentary about a girl who becomes a maiko, which is interesting.
I’ll be sure to check them out. As for Memoirs …. i found it interesting, accurate or not.
I haven’t seen the movie but I enjoyed the book and was surprised when I got to the end, to find it had been written by a man! I had assumed it was a true memoir. I find the movie version rarely lives up to the book. Accurate or not it was a good read.
I thought Maiko and Geisha were everywhere in this country when I first came
Aaaaah the ignorance
Ichimame is still working as a maiko in Kamischiken, she also wrote a book:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/switch-language/product/4479781722/ref=dp_change_lang?ie=UTF8&language=en_JP
There are other geiko who have blogs, such as Koito from Miyagawa-cho(even though she is now retired and runs her own okiya)
http://e-koito.com/
Her younger sister Komomo also wrote a book that is available in english.