The dedication of Tayuu knows no bounds. In some cases we see them mentally brute force their art on stage through pain and paralysis. We see them balance the shiny façade of elite entertainment with the daily struggles of the artist lifestyle. And we see them return to their passion again and again and again until they cannot return anymore. This is the thread that binds all Tayuu from ancient to modern: Endurance and dedication.
Sometimes we are baffled by how young the Tayuu are when they dedicate themselves to a dying artform. Even at the relative grown up age of 20 or even 30, a big step in a modern girl's life.
Tayuu Hanakoto might not have known where she would end up when she debuted as 15 year old Maiko Hanacho in Miyagawacho in 1987. Her okiya is unknown as of now but we do know that she was happy in her unusual life, working hard up until her Erikae at 20 and even after. Some sources say she left Kyoto to work as a Geisha in Tokyo Shinbashi but it must have been a short stint because her activities as a Shimabara Tayuu can be traced back to around 1995, where she dedicated herself to this new lifestyle for 10 years.
September 2018, during the "Red Aesthetics" exhibition, the last sighting of Geiko Yuko.
By 2005 she had retired though and maybe taken a break from the flower and willow world, she was in her 30ies at the time so maybe she wanted to see some different aspects of life. But she was to be drawn back in like a butterfly by the flowerworld.
Well.. actually the butterfly brought her flower with her! In 2012 she reappeared in tranquil Otsu town as a new Geiko in a barren kagai. She was reborn as Yuko of Hamamitsu okiya but she remained alone and independent so it seems. Even though her efforts received well deserved recognition in form of medals and official titles, she did not manage to revive the local kagai single handedly. Sadly, Otsu's five historic hanamachi remain silent, humble neighborhoods like any other. Maybe Yuko was simply too otherworldly, too majestic for little old Otsu. She would have remained unique under any circumstances.
History told us this story already: A widowed Empress remains an Empress even after she remarries a lowly lord.
In 2018 Yuko hosted a small autobiographical exhibition to students and enthusiasts. She talked about her life in the Karyukai and explained the Tayuu lifestyle in her own words, showed off some of her wonderfully rare memorabilia. But after that all traces of her are lost. Her Instagram and her blogs, her Facebook... All activities halted. No words of her retirement but it must have been intentional to host this retrospective of her extraordinary life just before. Nothing a Tayuu does is without consideration and her desire to educate people on her experiences and Tayuu culture is something shared with her sisters of the trade in the Shimabara, all of them aspire to disseminate this fading tradition. But she was one of a kind nonetheless. A life of a unique Tayuu that deserved the title even by historic standards of legendary talent and dedication.
Source of all Pics: Ega100 on Ameblo
Except the last two: Biwako-rakuen