Hello dear gaimaiko who is your favorite tayuu? My favorite tayuu are kisaragi and aoi tayuu
Hello @nerdybarbarianprince
Thank you for your question and your patience!
I actually needed to think about it! So i have a few favorites actually, depending on my mood. To be really boring, i admire them all for their tenacity and devotion to their art. Grown up me can't just pick a fave! But if i'm perfectly honest, some Tayuu hit differently for me depending on my own arbitrary impression of how "things should be done" as a Tayuu. So i have a list...
I do have a real soft spot for Kikugawa:
Kikugawa Tayuu by John Paul Foster
My impression is that she had a wonderfully weird standing in the Tayuu world: She was objectively pretty and very photogenic. She seemed upbeat and invested in the performance, and yet discreet in her private life. Not much is known at all of her, which i find is vital in her profession. As Takasago's apprentice, she must have enjoyed some recognition from the Wachigaiya, and through the silent stand they took towards her, we could consider it begrudging consent. Certainly compared to the sharper criticisms Aoi and Tsukasa faced when they split from the mothership. Nonetheless, Kikugawa was always ignored by the Shimabara establishment officially and seemed to operate in the fringes, simply for the love of the craft.
Then I really enjoyed Sakuragi I during her short tenure:
Sakuragi Tayuu by Y.Mori
At the time of her debut i was so excited! She was just 17 or 18 and seemed so poised and deeply immersed and it was genuinely refreshing to see a new face of the Wachigaiya. Apparently she brought along some pedigree as a relative of Wakagumo's but in hindsight, cynic me suspects she was an "industry plant", so to speak, to compete or distract from Aoi's project. Meh, just pointless speculation on my part. Nonetheless i was really interested in following along her journey and seeing it lived vibrantly again according the rules of the Wachigaiya. Sakuragi I ticked many boxes for them and for me too. What we got was more of the same we already had before: Sparse appearances during the annual Dochu and nothing more than an added face to the ranks of Tayuu. She would have been the ideal candidate to portray the unique journey of a young new Tayuu into this secluded world. Maybe combine the traditional and the new media era. But this never happened.
Then there is the case of Sakuragi II:
Sakuragi Tayuu via the Kyogare website
Okay so maybe some of you know that i was already an OG Kimisayo fan waaayyy back when she debuted as a Miyagawacho Maiko. I think what captured me back then, was that in my mind's eye, i saw an awkward teenager debut from a house that was known for debuting exclusively stunning ladies. I know it's not right to project into pictures, but at the time i really saw something of myself in her. From all the stunning girls that debuted during her "generation" (and there were so many talented and beautiful girls in her roster too! I mean there was Fukune, Fukuhana, Toshiemi, just to name a few of her classmates) she seemed like the one facing some odds. Some speculations about how she didn't enjoy having her photos taken, but c'mooooon how cute was she!?!
Maiko Kimisayo by Esdisessa on Instagram (link broken)
So when she retired in 2017 i was genuinely a bit sad. Felt like maybe she had simply not fulfilled her potential as a Maiko and then a Geiko. All of this was just my projection of course. I was kinda deep into Karyukai watching back then and was invested in these people like my Dad had been invested in his favorite Soccer player!
Then i was so happy to see her resurface in Osaka as Miyozuru! A little closure for me for sure. And i also felt like i had "bet on the right horse" i know it sounds strange and maybe it is, but something inside me had known, she was made to overcome her hurdles and she did with such tenacity! As a Tayuu, i see that she genuinely proved her dedication to the craft of the Karyukai. But i'm not going to pretend like i'm not side eyeing the circumstances around her presentation.
Some explanation is needed maybe. So everybody knows about the outrage Aoi and Tsukasa faced when they opened their Okiya and split from the "establishment" of the Shimabara. Some critics online criticized their newly commissioned clothes and how they took on different engagements and posted them on their social media.
With Sakuragi II some new and old arguments resurfaced to prove the hypocrisy around how people villainized the "modern" way of the Suehiroya in contrast to the "right" way of the Wachigaiya. Namely how Aoi has no real backing in ozashiki culture because she has no patrons over the Wachigaiya and the Sumiya and needed to host parties in all types of unregulated places. All the while Sakuragi II (and Kisaragi to some extent) take on group ozashiki with first timers in the Sumiya all the time. Tourist ozashiki have been a staple of the Sumiya's revenue since after the prostitution ban, providing much needed work for the women we have collectively accepted as "real" Tayuu over the decades. It's a thin line to turn your nose up at Aoi collaborating with newer establishments while the Sumiya remains a tourist hot spot.
The other argument around Aoi commissioning new Uchikake and Kimono, some have a modern feel to them, and how "tacky" they are seem so spiteful to me, considering the new Sakuragi probably stepped into her direct predecessor's myoseki in all probability to save on having to relabel all accessories that bare the Tayuu's name. Traditionally, a lot of reverence and thought was placed into the naming of a Tayuu: You wanted her to bare a unique yet legendary name, oftentimes a great Tayuu's name would go decades without a holder until a new girl proved herself worthy. This was a way to pay homage to the person's as well as the name's prestige. The classy thing was to leave some space around a good name or a good girl. Having two Sakuragis back to back cheapens both. It seems as if the myoseki was demoted to another Usugumo. Which is so sad because the first Sakuragi was the first Tayuu to debut from the Wachigaiya in many decades and certainly deserved the respect around the investment on all parts. AND! Kimisayo deserved better too goddammit! She has done all the transformations: Maiko to Geiko to Tayuu and proved herself invested and worthy of her own myoseki!!! I'm kinda mad about it lol.
I guess what makes a Tayuu a favorite for me is how much of my own emotions i can project into their Noh-like faces, into their stiff movements, into their charisma.
Thank you again for asking!
Who's your favorite? And why?
