#hanagasa

[naaami]

made a lil okinawan bingata kitty, will become stickers and possibly keychains soon!

[miyajimacho-imvu]

Last weekend we held our annual Hanamikai: cherry blossom viewing and dance performance event. Maiko Terutsuyo performed the dance ''Hanagasa'', and maiko Mitsuyo performed ''Kurokami'', wearing her special sakkou iromontsuki kimono.

[snazzystarlight]

This was so pretty! This is “Hanagasa” by Indogo La End as I see it because of synesthesia!    

[taisakuraokiya-blog]

ตุลาคม 2561: ไมโกะ Koeri (โอกิยะ Hiroshimaya), และไมโกะ Mamesumi (โอกิยะ Ninben) จากเขต Gion Kobu กำลังร่ายรำโดยมี Hanagasa เป็นอุปกรณ์ประกอบ

Source: takutanimoto on Instagram

[missmyloko]

What’s In a Dance? Part 2

Everyone seemed to really enjoy the first entry, so we’re back already with a second! Since this is a new feature we’re going to be looking at another very popular dance that’s necessary for all maiko and geiko to know ^^

Kyō No Shiki (京の四季) - The Four Seasons of Kyoto

Image courtesy of Rebecca_1.28 on Instagram. Although not as poetic as the Gion Kouta, this song and dance highlight the various sights around Kyoto that are famous among tourists.

Lyrics

First Part - Spring and Summer

Haru wa hana, iza minigonse Higashiyama, 春は花, いざ見にごんせ東山, Flowers bloom in the spring, so come and see Higashiyama, Iroka arasō yozakura ya, 色香争う夜桜や, At night cherry blossoms compete in both scent and color, Ukare ukarete sui mo busui mo monogatai, うかれうかれて粋も無粋も物がたい,   Under the flowers both the upper class and the lower class are equals, Nihonzashi demo yawarakau, 二本ざしでもやわらかう, Even the Nihonzashi becomes tender, Gion dōfu no Ninkenjaya, 祇園豆腐の二軒茶屋, Like Gion’s tofu from Ninkenjaya, Misogi zo natsu wa uchitsure te, 禊ぞ夏はうち連れて, In the summer we purify ourselves together, Kawara ni tsudō yūsuzumi, 川原につどう夕涼み, People keep cool by the Kamo River at night, Yoiyoiyoiyoi Yoiyasa. よいよいよいよいよいやさ。 Yoi yoi yoi yoi yoi ya sa. Second Part - Autumn and Winter

Makuzu ga hara ni soyosoyo to, 眞葛が原にそよそよと, Beside the original Makuzu, Aki wa iro masu Kachōzan, 秋は色増す華頂山, Autumn color sits on Kachōzan, Shigure wo itō karakasa no, 時雨をいとうから傘の, When the rain falls I have my umbrella, Nurete momiji no Chōrakuji,   濡れて紅葉の長樂寺, At Chōrakuji the autumn leaves are wet, Omoizo tsumoru Maruyama ni, 思いぞ積もる円山に, Thinking of Maruyama, Kesa mo kitemiru yukimizake, 今朝も来て見る雪見酒, In the morning we go and drink sake while viewing the falling snow, Ee, soshite yagura no sashimukai, エエ、そして櫓の差し向かい, Ah, face to face with the tower, Yoiyoiyoiyoi Yoiyasa.   よいよいよいよいよいやさ。 Yoi yoi yoi yoi yoi ya sa.

The Breakdown

Unlike the much easier to understand Gion Kouta, Kyō No Shiki has a fair bit of terms that are not well known outside of Kyoto. They include:

-Higashiyama is one of the famous mountain ranges that surrounds the city of Kyoto. 

-The cherry blossoms are actually a euphemism for maiko and geiko who “compete” for the attention of their customers at night.

-Nihonzashi literally means “Two Skewers“ (that ties into the next line) but the entire phrase is an odd pun on “Nihonbushi” that literally means “Japanese Sword” (the sword being a pun on skewers).

-Ninkenjaya means “Two Teahouses” and is referring to the two tea houses, the Fujiya and the Nakamuraya, that originally sat at the gate of Yasaka Shrine that sold snacks to pilgrims (like the aforementioned Nihonzashi and Gion tofu).

-Makuzu is a famous porcelain producer/style.

-Kachōzan is part of “Kachōzan Chionkyō-in Otani-Dera,” which is the full name of Chion-in, one of the most famous temples in Kyoto.

-Chōrakuji is also another famous temple in Kyoto.

-Maruyama Park is a huge plot of land that has Yasaka Shrine, Chion-in, and Chourakuji situated on it, making it a very popular destination for locals and tourists alike.

-The tower is a reference to the giant pagoda located at Yasaka Shrine that can be seen from anywhere in Maruyama Park and the surrounding area. 

-The term “Yoi Yoi Ya Sa“ is a bit hard to translate as it’s colloquial in nature, but it roughly means something like, “Yeah, Let’s Go!”

Once you watch the dances you’ll notice that the music sounds very similar to the Gion Kouta, and even share the same introductory notes and some of the pacing.  

Kyō No Shiki is interesting as it can be danced alone or with more than one person and is not restricted to just a maiko performing it like the Gion Kouta.

Each Kagai’s Version

Gion Kobu (祇園甲部) Version - Inoue School (井上流)

This dance is, overall, quite slow and repetitive and the actions taken by both dancers are almost identical and do not share the pairing that the Gion Kouta has. The Inoue version also does not use props of any kind while the other four do. This version is performed by Takasuzu (孝寿々) of Kaida (貝田) and Ichiwaka (市和佳) of Nakagishi (中支志), and it does have its own lyrics in Japanese on the screen (although they differ slightly from my version).

Pontocho (先斗町) Version - Onoe School (尾上流)

The addition of mai ōgi to the dance makes it far more interesting to watch in my opinion and it adds a bit more depth since the dance itself can be a bit dry. The fans themselves aren’t distracting either, which can be a problem with some other dances. The part at the end with the drinking of sake is also quite cute! This version is performed by Chizu (千鶴) and Ichino (市乃) of Yamaguchi (やまぐち).

Kamishichiken (上七軒) Version - Hanayagi School (花柳流)

I chose this version as it’s danced by a geiko instead of maiko, so it shows the difference in skills when dancing the same song. This song, like the Gion Kouta, has many “frozen” kata parts, but that’s a feature of the Hanayagi school and not a slight on the dancer’s part. It’s very hard to find this song danced in its entirety, so this video only shows the first half. This version is performed by Naosuzu (尚鈴) of Nakasato (中里), who is a natori geiko.

Miyagawa Cho (宮川町) Version - Wakayagi School (若柳流)

This is my favorite version of the dance as the movements seem more graceful since they’re slightly slower than Pontocho’s version. Even with a very junior maiko performing this version I feel more drawn into the dance than the others. I also love the pose where the maiko turns around and has the fan against their darari obi, which the Hanayagi School also does (but isn’t shown in the geiko version). This version is performed by Fukunae (ふく苗) of Shigemori (しげ森) and, like most of the others, only features the first half of the song.

Gion Higashi (祇園東) Version - Fujima School (藤間流)

I chose this version specifically because the maiko are using kamonkasa at the start, which are like hanagasa, but instead of having flowers on them they have the kamon (symbol) of their district. Here they’re using the kasa instead of mai ōgi, which is not as far stretched as you may think; when Hanagasa is danced without the hanagasa props fans are used in their place, and both items can be interchangeable without affecting the meaning of the dance. You’ll notice that, after the spring part they put down their kasa and switch to mai ōgi, like it would normally be danced, and switch back to the kasa at the end for the final pose. However, I’ve found it quite hard to find a full version of this dance from Gion Higashi too. This version is performed by Ryōka (涼香) of Sakaemasa (栄政) and Kanoemi (叶笑) of Kanoya (叶家). __________________________________________________________________ The lyrics provided were translated by myself and gathered from multiple sources; I began with a set that a friend had listed, compared it to two other sets (this was one of them), and figured out which made the most sense when written out as some versions just wrote the hiragana versions of a few kanji and it made the meanings a bit more ambiguous to people who are not fluent in Japanese. In the original version some older forms of common kanji were used so I updated them as this may also confuse people.

[geisha-kai]

July 2017: maiko Shino dancing at the Art Aquarium in Nihonbashi, Tokyo by  kaztak1972 on Instagram

༼ つ ◕◡◕ ༽つ  Geisha-kai on P a t r e o n || Instagram

[qclip]

最上義光公@花笠祭り #japan #yamagata #hanagasa #山形 #花笠祭り #花笠 #七日町 #samurai #武将 #最上義光 (七日町)

[koikishu]

2017 Maiko Karyukai Wallpapers - July to December