Tanefumi and Me - a photo on Flickriver

Tanefumi and Me

Oy gevalt, what an incredibly touristy thing to do. And I'm wearing an aloha shirt, no less.

It was interesting meeting her, talking to her, however briefly. To interact with someone is so different from just watching them perform. I wonder how old she is - she seems really young. To decide at such an age (or to have it decided for you) that this is what you want to do with your life, and to then go through such intense training and routine all the time... which isn't to say there aren't upsides, of course, getting to wear such beautiful kimono, getting to pursue dance and music and such if that's the kind of thing you enjoy, getting to live a life steeped in traditional culture and avoiding, or escaping, the more mainstream career path that most others will take.

It's sort of funny to realize, up close, that the makeup isn't actually all that attractive, really, and also that under that makeup, she's a young Japanese girl like any other. She seemed shy and nervous, especially after I started speaking Japanese.

つまり、いとおかしなりけり。

As I said, it's very different interacting with someone directly from watching them perform. Onstage, she's a performer. But offstage, sitting right next to her like this, her individuality, her insecurities and personality begin to show, and you realize just how tall or short she is - that someone who seemed larger than life onstage is in fact just the same size as you, a normal person - and you begin to wonder what she thinks about all of this. Does she *love* dance, but wish she didn't have to do this touristy thing, sitting here and having her picture taken? ~~Does the wig hurt, and she secretly can't wait to take it off?~~ Is she thinking about her next engagement, or about simply going home and relaxing? It sounds cruel to say that I might not have thought of geisha as "real people" before, but, after, realizing it, well, it opens up all kinds of questions and interesting thoughts.

(Scanned from a photo print taken by my host father, Kajiwara-san)

See where this picture was taken. [?]

Taken in: 日本 / 京都府 / 京都市 (show map)

Taken on: July 2, 2010

Tags:

maiko

舞妓

me more »

田ね文

tanefumi

geo:lat=35.01248855838009

geo:lon=135.7523149473908

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Sets appears in: • 京都（平成22年夏）

Stats: 1,294 views / 8 comments

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