Tokyo Weekender - October 2017

Photo by Saskia Wesserling
taking lessons in music and/or dance. Once
the new geisha can perform well enough to
attend banquets she learns how to entertain
by watching her older sisters work. How long
this takes depends on how strict the district
is. Some Kyoto maiko debut in as little as
three months, but in conservative Asakusa, I
did a very long apprenticeship for 11 months.
As does any trainee who is past her early
twenties, I debuted directly as a geisha rather
than as a maiko or hangyoku as they are
called in Tokyo.
WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT
ASPECT OF BEING A GEISHA?
Geisha need to be everything to everyone. A
banquet with Japanese guests who have been
commuting to the geisha world for decades
is different to a banquet for first-time foreign
tourists, and different again to an expat
family party with kids. We always need to be
aware of how we can cater best to our customers
and make sure they have a wonderful
time. It takes time to learn
to be very sensitive and always aware of our
customers’ needs. In the end, though, if a geisha
does not love her art, then it doesn’t last.
WHAT’S THE BEST PART OF THE JOB?
To be a geisha is to be in a very beautiful
world, surrounded by beautiful women, and
beautiful things, and entertaining in beautiful
places. It is difficult to have a truly beautiful
WHAT’S THE MOST UNEXPECTED
PART OF JOB?
Many people think that a banquet is a very
stiff formal occasion, but depending on
what the customers want, banquets can be
very raucous! The older Fukagawa geisha
have some great drinking games and
Japanese really love to get into the swing
of things. At a recent banquet things got
so wild that we had to keep covering the
trainee geisha’s eyes!
WHY WOULD YOU RECOMMEND
PEOPLE TRY THE GEISHA
EXPERIENCE?
To attend a genuine geisha banquet
is to see the most beautiful of traditional
Japanese architecture in the teahouses,
the most precious artworks, and
calligraphy and pottery in the interiors
of the teahouses, the best of Japanese
kimono in the geisha’s attire, and the
best of Japanese cuisine and sake, and of
course, an introduction to Japanese music
and dance. There is no other single experience
or occasion in which you can get
such a completely comprehensive cultural
experience.
AT A RECENT BANQUET THINGS GOT SO WILD THAT WE
HAD TO KEEP COVERING THE TRAINEE GEISHA’S EYES!
life, but this comes close to it. Now we are
in the first days of autumn, for my next
banquet I will choose a single-layered silk
kimono, with a design predicting the autumn
soon to come. I have hundreds of kimono
now, but a geisha can never have enough!
There is a lot of giving and receiving of kimono
in the geisha world: the geisha mother
I had when I was in Asakusa called me out
just recently to give me another of hers: a
beautiful dark blue banquet kimono with
fine gold patterns.
WHAT KIND OF EVENT WOULD YOU
RECOMMEND HIRING A GEISHA FOR?
Every occasion! Apart from the normal banquet,
geisha have always been hired for celebratory
occasions of any kind. Geisha appear
at the openings of new shops, or on the first
day of the sumo or theatre. In modern times,
we have danced at Narita Airport for the
opening of new flights, danced at Frankfurt
Messe trade show, attended parties at private
homes, gone out on boats in Tokyo Bay or even
entertained on the ski slopes in Niseko. Geisha
can be called anywhere in the world too.
I very much welcome any ideas to connect
with new audiences.
IS IT EXPENSIVE TO CALL A GEISHA,
AND WHAT ARE SOME OF THE
OPTIONS?
It is the ratio of geisha to customers that
decides the price, so if you want to make
it cheaper, get some friends together and
organize a larger group. Our most exciting
new project for the Fukagawa geisha is our
Geisha School. We have opened up the lessons
of the little geisha for the very first time, so
that anyone can come and watch a dance or
music lesson by the older geisha. This is a very
cheap way to meet geisha, and a great way to
support the geisha world, as all proceeds will
go directly to the training of the young geisha.
If you would like to visit a teahouse, just email
me and let me know how many people you
are, and what your maximum budget is per
person, then I can make all the arrangements
for you. Recently I have been given the use
of a beautiful 100-year-old house in Kamakura.
We can arrange private parties there, or
customers can use the house for the weekend
with a banquet on a Friday or Saturday. We
are happy to cater for a range of budgets.
WHAT OTHER SERVICES DO YOU
OFFER?
Apart from banquets, I offer a number of other
activities including “lunch with Sayuki” (a
lunch with me to talk about the geisha world),
geisha shopping (visiting the beautiful little
shops and craftsmen making the products
that geisha use), kimono shopping (a complete
introduction to kimono by visiting the best
recycled kimono shops), antique market
shopping (finding genuine samurai armour
or geisha pillows, antique pottery and ukiyo-e
paintings, all at rock bottom prices), kabuki
viewing (offering extra commentary while
watching kabuki).
CALL SAYUKI
You can contact Sayuki directly at
sayuki.geisha@gmail.com for all enquiries,
and to call her and her geisha sisters
to events across Tokyo and beyond.
Find out more at www.sayuki.net
TOKYO WEEKENDER | OCTOBER 2017 | 25