#koyakko

[love1kimono]

Koyakko showing her Obi 1910s

The very iki (stylish or chic) geisha Koyakko. During her subsequent career as the master dancer Hanayagi Sumi, an orchestral ballet entitled “heavenly maiden and fisherman” was written for her, which she first performed in 1932.

[love1kimono]

Koyakko of Shinbashi 1897

新橋 Shinbashi 小奴 Koyakko

[love1kimono]

Koyakko and friend 1910s

Two geigi (geisha) from the Shinbashi geisha district in Tokyo. The geigi on the left, in the blue kimono, is Koyakko, who later achieved fame as a traditional dancer under the name Hanayagi Sumi.

Her real name was Ōhashi Isami. She was born in Gifu in 1898 and adopted by the Ōhashi geisha house in Nagoya at the age of four, where she studied the Nishikawa stlye of dancing. She moved to Tokyo in Meiji 43 (1910) and was introduced to Hanayagi Tokutarō, the head of the Hanayagi School of Dance. The following year she rose to prominence at the Take-no-ya geisha house in the Shinbashi geisha district under the name, Koyakko. She was called the ‘beautiful face’ of the ‘seven daughters of Shinbashi’, a group of seven top-class sūgi (child apprentices) from the Shinbashi geisha district.

Meanwhile, she continued her studies with the Hanayagi School of Dance and was granted natori (professional accreditation) in Taishō 7 (1918) under the name Hanayagi Juyū. After the Great Kanto Earthquake in Taishō 12 (1923) she retired as a geisha to become a professional dancer and in Taishō 14 (1925) she was granted the professional name, Hanayagi Sumi. In Taishō 15 (1926) she established her own dance style, called Kōkai, and developed a new dance movement with other top female dancers. She died suddenly in 1947, at the age of 48, from a cerebral hemorrhage.

The novel “Tokyo ichidai onna” (Woman in Tokyo) by Kunieda Kanji, which was serialized in the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper, featured Hanayagi Sumi as a lead character. It was made into a movie called “Jōen ichidai onna” (The sexiest of women) in 1951.

(Wikipedia Japan: 花柳寿美)

Probably a S. N. Banshiudo postcard.

[maigeiko]

Shinbashi Geisha Kiyomatsuya Kimitarô 清松家君太郎 (right) and Takenoya Koyakko 竹の家小奴 (left), around 1915. There were multiple Geisha named “Koyakko” in Shinbashi. This particular one debuted in 1911. She became a natori of the Hanayagi school of dance in 1923, received the name “Hanayagi Sumi” 花柳寿美 and retired in 1925.  About Kimitarô is only known that she was married to Kabuki actor Onoe Kikugorô VI (1885-1949). Sources https://www.kabuki21.com/kikugoro6.php https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%8A%B1%E6%9F%B3%E5%AF%BF%E7%BE%8E (花柳寿美) https://twitter.com/flowersaphiret/status/614617463766974464 Colour by me - updated version from October 2023 with slightly more realistic colours and few more details I figured out since originally posting this. 

[maigeiko]

Koyakko of Shinbashi, 1897. Src.

[taishou-kun]

Geisha Koyakko 小奴 autochrome - Shinbashi district, Tokyo, Japan - 1921

Source Flickr Blue Ruin 1

[thekimonogallery]

Geisha Koyakko (小奴) of the Shinbashi hanamachi (geisha district) in Tokyo~1910s.  Image via Pinterest

[geisha-kai]

Koyakko during the summertime by ROSAROTE on Flickr