#miehina

September 4th, 2019: Geiko Miehina (美恵雛) of Harutomi (春富) and maiko Kanako (叶子) of Kawahisa 川久() in Miyagawa Cho along with maiko Konami (小なみ) of Nakagishi (中支志) in Gion Kobu performed to a sold out crowd at the Portland Botanical Gardens in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. They each performed their own solo song, with Konami dancing Rokudan Kuzushi (六段くづし) and Kanako dancing Natsu Wa Hotaru (夏は蛍), while joining together for the Gion Kouta (祇園小唄). Miehina performed on the shamisen as that is the job of the most senior geimaiko at ozashiki in Miyagawa Cho. There was a Q and A session along with time for pictures, which is very rare outside of Kyoto! Kanako also reaffirmed that her erikae will be taking place in November to much delight ^^ Images are courtesy of @plant--ghoul who graciously allowed me to use exclusive images ^^

Source: yoshiyan on Instagram

Source: gaaplite on Deskgram

March 2017: maiko Fukuno, Fukune, geiko Miehina, maiko Fukuya, Kikuyae, and Koyoshi at the Heian Shrine by  ichi_s_photos on Instagram

Source: "French" Revue de Modes on Instagram

And also, finding new apprentices isn’t easy these days (although the Geisha-numbers have been increasing for about a decade now), and the big okiya like Komaya, Shigemori, Kawayoshi, Tama, etc. have a clear advantage in attracting new trainees, as new prospective Maiko rather apply to okiya that already have several girls their age working for them. These okiya have also established a reputation for debuting many new, promising girls and Misedashi from smaller okiya sometimes get a bit lost or overlooked, in my experience.

With April’s end comes May’s flurry of misedashi and erikae before the summer heat becomes too much to bear in formal attire. The karyukai will be going through some changes, so I hope to do a half year summary soon. Now onto the news! Karyukai News -The Kamogawa Odori (鴨川をどり) of Pontocho begins tomorrow (May 1st) and will run until May 24th. -Oddly enough, there haven’t been any current minarai sightings. However, it’s likely that they’ll begin to pop up within the next week or two as the end of May is a very popular time for misedashi. -There’s a rumor going around that Fukuharu (富久春) of Okatome (岡とめ) in Gion Higashi will be leaving the profession. Since only one source has stated it so far I’m considering it a rumor, but this person is often credible. Hopefully there will be more news on this soon. Blog News -I’ve been quite busy documenting my kimono collection, but you can check them out on Flickr! Feel free to choose your favorites to be featured in the “What’s In a Kimono?” series in the future ^^ -What’s In a Motif? Part 4 looked at Goshodoki (御所時/御所解). -The Random Fact of The Week looked at the role that bin plays in determining maturity. -Mylo’s Pick of The Week looked at Miehina (美恵雛) of Harutomi (春富) in Miyagawa Cho. -The multitude of questions asked this week was fantastic! I’m hoping to answer some of them a bit more in depth in the future as some have been asked multiple times now (not that asking multiple times is a bad thing!).

Source: Miko Nakai on Instagram