#yuujoasks

[koikishu]

Thank you so much Koikishu for your kind words and all the effort you put in researching. Years ago you answered my ask on how i could see a Tayuu in kyoto and you made a long list of events along with a map. Thank you for helping my dream come true. I won't forget your kindness. Have a beautiful day.

Oh. My. GOD! I can't believe you're the same anon from 2020!

I'm so happy I could help you with this dream! I'm overjoyed that my answers to your questions helped you to plan your trip! I wish you the very best on your trip and I hope you get an excellent view of Shimabara tayuu! Safe travels!

[koikishu]

Hello, i'll be at Arashiyama this November 12 and am hoping to see a Tayu. What would be better to attend the Yoshigiri memorial in the morning or the momiji matsuri in the afternoon? Thank you.

Wow! Firstly, let me say that I'm very jealous of you being in Japan for one of these Wachigaiya tayuu-dochu events! Secondly, I've never been to a Wachigaiya tayuu-dochu before, so I'm not very helpful in terms of personal experience. However, I can help in terms of research!

So, the two events in question are the (1) Yuugiri-tayuu Kuyo-sai at Seiryo-ji Temple and the (2) Arashiyama Momiji Festival near the Togetsukyo Bridge and the Suiran Luxury Collection Hotel Kyoto.

The Yuugiri-tayuu Kuyo-sai (according to their website) memorial service is around 10 a.m. and I'm pretty sure they mean just the service. Other websites (link) suggest that the memorial service will be held in the main hall, the tayuu will perform a dedication dance, and then the tayuu and kamuro will perform a tayuu-dochu to Yuugiri-tayuu's grave, where they will leave flowers. The path of the tayuu-dochu may go from the Main Hall to the Main Gate around the outside of the temple grounds to Yuugiri-tayuu's Ruins (夕霧大夫遺跡).

The Arashiyama Momiji Festival is (according to their website) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Based on what I can tell from years prior, the viewing of the festival boats happens on the downstream side of the Togetsukyo Bridge, where they perhaps have paid seating but it's otherwise free to view from either side of the river. The Shimabara tayuu of the Wachigaiya participate near the end of the festival where they perform a tayuu dochu and then a tea ceremony.

If I had to make a choice, I would go with the Arashiyama Momiji Festival instead of the Yuugiri-tayuu Kuyo-sai.

The Yuugiri-tayuu Kuyo-sai is going to be within temple grounds and the dedication dance will definitely be indoors, making it harder to see if you can't get good seating or tickets into the main hall.

The tayuu-dochu to Yuugiri-tayuu's "'grave" seems like it's going to navigate some really tight streets, so there might be limited viewing space along the path.

The Arashiyama Momiji Festival is a more outdoor-style festival, so there are better-viewing angles all around. Even the tea ceremony is usually held in the open air, so you can get gorgeous pictures. And the tayuu-dochu should have excellent viewing space since they're using a more modern road.

I hope this information was helpful! Enjoy your trip!

[koikishu]

Hello! Do you know the location of Suehiro okiya? I know it's in Shimabara, but I can't find an address.

Hi!

No, I don't know the address for the Suehiroya okiya/ ageya and I suspect that that's by design. Remember that the Suehiroya is a breakaway of the Wachigaiya, so they don't have a traditional building to host events. It's likely a more private, modern location used for storage and non-ozashiki work. The Suehiroya is also a much more public-facing okiya/ ageya than their predecessor, so they probably want to maintain some privacy when they're not officially working. It's okay though! The Suehiroya's social media accounts (1, 2, & 3) always detail the location of all their events very clearly. Why not enjoy them there, if you can?

[koikishu]

Hi there! I know what Tayuu and Kamuro are, but what is a Shoujo?

          So, to the best of my understanding, a “shoujo” (written 少女) is a middle step between “kamuro” and “tayuu” that use to be common in the Shimabara before WW2 and earlier. It’s apparently pronounced “shoume” (しょうめ), so I need to go back and fix my previous posts.

          In Aoi-tayuu’s article (link: https://hakken-japan.com/columns/kyoto_shimabara5/), she explains that the original path to becoming a tayuu in the Shimabara pre-WW2 looked something like this:

      禿, Kamuro --> 少女, Shoume --> 天神, Tenjin --> 太夫, Tayuu

As she explains, the “shoujo/ shoume” stage was when the proprietor of an ageya would decide if a kamuro had what it took to become a tayuu or not. If she was deemed capable, this stage would be when the young girl started taking specialized classes in earnest and trained to become a proper tayuu. If she was deemed incapable, the proprietor would have her train to become a geisha. I don’t know if that meant turning the former kamuro over to a willing geisha okiya, or if she was trained within the Shimabara to take on an entertainment-only role.

          Aoi-tayuu is interested in bringing back these middle ranks for many reasons. Firstly, she wants to restore as many traditions as possible within the Shimabara. These middle ranks of shoume and tenjin were possible when the Shimabara was still a busy and well-funded entertainment district, so she wants to give modern people a glimpse of this former glory. This is true of other traditions being revived by her ageya, the Suehiroya (末廣屋), such as the Tayuu Hassaku every August 1 and the Tayuu Mochitsukai every December.

          Secondly, it’s probably due to her own experience with training to be a Tayuu at her former ageya, the Wachigaiya (輪違屋). At the Wachigaiya, the path to becoming a tayuu currently looks like this:

     禿, Kamuro --> 振袖太夫 / 見習い太夫, Furisode-Tayuu/ Minarai-Tayuu --> 太夫, Tayuu

Aoi-tayuu discussed how she was a kamuro from ages 2-12, a furisode-tayuu from ages 12-27, and a tayuu from age 27 to the present. As she tells the story, her promotion to furisode-tayuu seemed rather haphazard with no special recognition or ceremony from the Wachigaiya. It’s my belief that she may have felt like her dedication to the traditional arts and culture as a kamuro wasn’t being appreciated or acknowledged by her ageya. This may be why, now that she has several dedicated young girls working at the Suehiroya, she would want to bring back the shoume rank as a way to recognize their dedication to traditional arts and culture. 

          I also wonder if the optics didn’t have something to do with it. After all, most yukaku made sure to let you know which women were “available” by having them wear their obi musubi (knots) in front. So, kamuro, shoume, maiko, and geisha are clearly “unavailable” because they wear their obi musubi in the back. However, Aoi-tayuu was 12 when she was promoted to furisode-tayuu and would’ve worn her obi musubi in front, accordingly. Even though modern-day tayuu don’t offer sexual services, the idea of a 12-year-old signaling her sexual availability must leave a bad taste in the mouth of modern-day sensibilities. The shoume rank could help alleviate this situation by providing a way to acknowledge & signal the girl’s growth without any sexual implications. 

          So, in summary, a “shoujo” is a middle rank on the path to becoming a tayuu that was common in the Shimabara before WW2. Aoi-tayuu, as part of her Suehiroya ageya, is reviving the rank because she wants to revive as many Shimabara traditions as possible. And, I suspect, it may also be a way for Aoi-tayuu to acknowledge the growth and dedication of her apprentices without giving them a title that has sexual implications/ connotations. I hope I answered your question!

[koikishu]

Me again! One more question (I hope I'm not annoying you ><)

Is there a way to spot the difference between furisode-tayuu and full fledged tayuu by just looking like there is with geiko and maiko?

          Yes! It’s actually quite easy to tell a furisode-tayuu from a tayuu just by looking at their kimono! As their name implies, furisode-tayuu wear an uchikake with furisode-length sleeves, while tayuu wear an uchikake with tomesode-length sleeves. Also, the furisode-tayuu wear their obi in a knot called “bunko musubi,” which looks like a simple bow. Tayuu wear their obi in a knot called “kokoro musubi,” because it resembles the Japanese kanji for heart or kokoro, “心”. Here are a few pictures below:

On the left, Aoi-tayuu during her Furisode-tayuu phase at the Wachigaiya with her mother Tsukasa-tayuu, a full tayuu, on the right.

On the left, we have another Furisode-tayuu from the Wachigaiya and, on the right, we have the full tayuu, Usugumo-tayuu (?).

And here is a pair from before World War 2! On the left, is the Furisode-tayuu and on the right is the full tayuu.

[koikishu]

Apart from their clothing and kanzashi what's the difference between a Tayu and an Oiran? Were oiran allowed to turn down clients like Tayu and started their training from childhood, or did they start from the bottom and rise up the ranks like royal concubines through skill and political machinations ?

         So, Tayuu and Oiran are not visually similar, but they are functionally very similar. They were both highly trained from kamuro-hood and were promoted to Tayuu/ Oiran ranks if the brothel owner felt they showed enough artistic skills and sexual prowess to be successful. There was a certain “star” quality that a girl needed to have to be successful as the pinnacle of what a pleasure quarter could offer its customers. As a Tayuu/ Oiran, they still had the privilege to turn down potential clients and have a large entourage of shinzo and kamuro whenever she stepped out. The common way to become a Tayuu/ Oiran is shown in the chart I made below:

         One BIG difference is the focus of their artistic skills. Tayuu (especially in Kyoto) were focused on serving clients from the Imperial Court and other wealthy men. Therefore, their choice of traditional arts and visual aesthetics were based on the tastes and traditions of the nobility. Oiran, having come into existence in the middle of the Edo period, adapted to then-current tastes in entertainment and aesthetics as well as the preferences of their mostly Shogunate official and wealthy merchant clientele. Their visual appearance became more focused on displaying the wealth of their patrons in as showy a manner as possible. By Tokyo standards, the Oiran were much more hip and trendy compared to the stuffy and arrogant Tayuu.

         However, the BIGGEST difference is when Tayuu and Oiran were “invented” and who their “ancestors” were. Although both Tayuu and Oiran were high-ranking courtesans, Tayuu were once the highest courtesan rank in all the pleasure quarters all over Japan. This is because the earliest established red-light district was the Shimabara of Kyoto in 1589. This made the ranks established in the Shimabara (with Tayuu being the highest) the standard which all later pleasure quarters copied. However, in Edo (Tokyo), the last courtesan ranked as a Tayuu retired in 1760 and the brothel owners in the Yoshiwara (Edo’s red-light district) decided to restructure the courtesan ranks. According to the Yoshiwara’s new system, “Oiran” referred to the top 3 classes of courtesans: Yobidashi Chuusan, Chuusan, and Tsukemawashi. In short, Tayuu have been around since 1589, while Oiran came into being in 1761.

         The ancestors of each respective courtesan also made a big difference to their artistic reputations. Tayuu were designated as the cream of the crop since their inception. Women promoted to Tayuu rank were only ever supposed to be good enough to entertain at the Imperial Palace; their artistic education and mannerisms were designed to be ideal for that environment. Thus, any woman still ranked as a Tayuu was part of a very high-quality tradition. The ancestors of the Yoshiwara’s Oiran, on the other hand, (colored yellow on the other chart I made below) were originally the lower ranking Tsubone courtesans.

Around 1690, there was an influx of women into the Yoshiwara who were previously working as unlicensed sex workers at various "teahouses." This was when the tsubone rank was renamed "sancha" (散茶, i.e. "powdered tea"). The majority of the women in the new rank were from higher quality "teahouses" who had amassed a large clientele before their entrance to the yuukaku. Then, in 1760, when the last tayuu and koshi courtesans retired, the Yoshiwara restructured. It divided the sancha courtesans into the three ranks (Yobidashi Chuusan, Chuusan, and Tsukemawashi) and rebranded them as the pinnacle of Edo-style sophistication.

         As far as patrons from outside of Edo went, the Oiran were inherently inferior, having been derived from a class of courtesans ranked second from the bottom of the original ranking system. For patrons who were Edo natives, the new Oiran classes were much more suited to their tastes and gave them a chance to promote something uniquely theirs. Up until the Oiran classes arrived, the Yoshiwara had to keep competing with other city's yuukaku for prestige, which also meant following the standards and ranks the Kyoto yuukaku had established. Over time, these standards began to lose resonance with Edo based clients, who had distinct aesthetic and artistic preferences to those of Kyoto. With the rise of the Oiran, Edoites could completely shrug off any vestiges of imitating Kyoto's culture or trying to impress anyone not from Edo.

[koikishu]

Hello again! Your answer to my last question was super helpful but I have one more.

If maiko are apprentice geisha and shoume are apprentice tayuu; are furisode-shinzo apprentice oiran?

I know a lot about geisha but little about oiran and tayuu and your blog has been super helpful!

         I’m so glad you’re enjoying my blog! ^__^ I’m really enjoying answering your questions.

         I think you’re right, for the most part. As far as modern Tayuu and Oiran, your analogy seems to fit nicely. However, unlike Geisha and Tayuu, there is no modern tradition of recruiting and training girls to be artistic Oiran. So, in modern times, any “progression” of how a girl goes from kamuro to Oiran is pure speculation. Here are all the “modern” progressions for Geisha, Tayuu, and Oiran. Tayuu get two progressions because the 2 current tayuu “okiya” (the historical Wachigai-ya and the modern Suehiro-ya) are doing things differently from one another.

         Keep in mind that the Oiran events we’re all familiar with today are all tourism events put on by local governments to make some money for their local communities. These parades are all meant to mimic “oiran dochu,” i.e. courtesan parades, that would have ONLY happened originally within the walled-in pleasure quarters. The purpose of these parades was for Oiran, and their associated brothels, to market themselves on their way to the teahouse where they would meet with their client.

         One way to show off their wealth was for the Oiran to parade with her entire entourage. The entourage could have anywhere from 2-3 kamuro, 2-4 furisode-shinzo, and a bando-shinzo (essentially an entourage manager). Every member of the entourage was dependent on the Oiran for training AND funding ALL their expenses, which would include their meals, hairstyles, kimono, and accessories. This is all ON TOP of the Oiran’s own personal expenses AND paying back her debt to the brothel who owns her! The larger the entourage, the more the expenses, which must mean the Oiran is incredibly successful to have such a large and well-dressed entourage. 

          Thus, the “Oiran Dochu” events put on today mimic the basics of the historical parades: 2 kamuro, 4 furisode-shinzo, and 1 Oiran. Also, the women who portray the courtesan and her attendants in the parades are usually recruited participants or friends of the organizers, who then train for a few months to perfect their walk, their “ozashiki” performance, and getting acclimated to the full weight of the costume.

        Also, here’s a more accurate glimpse of what the historical progression from girl to Oiran would have been like in the Yoshiwara. All the yellow boxes are the different ranks of Oiran as the term “Oiran” wasn’t actually a rank, but a collective word that referred to the top 3 ranks of the Yoshiwara’s courtesans. The numbers in parenthesis are the ages of each rank. Hope this answered your question!

[koikishu]

Hi there! I have a question about modern kamuro - how are they recruited nowadays? Seeing how young they are, I suppose their parents have a lot to say in the choice of their path so do they come from families somehow associated with Tayuu herself? Thank you!

          So, as far as events and ozashiki within the Shimabara district and Kyoto are concerned, Aoi-tayuu and Tsukasa-tayuu have a variety of ways to procure kamuro. 

          Before the Suheiro-ya had become well-established, it’s probable that Tsukasa-tayuu used her personal connections with friends, clients, and people who still work within the karyukai to ask if their young daughters would be interested in dressing up to participate in a tayuu dochu or be adorable at an ozashiki. Since kamuro don’t normally have any responsibilities outside of being adorable, the Suehiro-ya could easily interchange the role between many different girls with different availabilities or levels of interest. All of this with parental consent, of course.

          Once the Suheiro-ya had become more established, and they’d successfully set up their website and social media accounts, Aoi-tayuu in this article said that they accepted requests for girls to become kamuro via email as well as via direct messages on their Twitter accounts. I would also assume that the parents of these young girls would be involved in making the request. Whether it’s the parent who’s actually interested, or the little girl herself, it doesn’t really cost too much for everyone to give it a go.

          When the Suehiro-ya hosts tayuu-related events outside of Kyoto proper, the kamuro at these events depends. If both schedules and parents permit, the Suehiro-ya will often take their regular kamuro with them to perform and partake of their usual roles. 

          However, in cases where the “house kamuro” can't or won’t go, the Suehiro-ya has worked with the coordinators of these out-of-town events before to recruit willing volunteers from the local community to fill in. Both Aoi-tayuu and Tsukasa-tayuu have noted on their Twitter accounts times where the kamuro and/or shoume are local girls rather than their regulars, like in September 2018, October 2018, and November 2018.

          Hope this answered your question!