Hanamachi is the Japanese term for districts where geisha live and work. Each hanamachi typically has its own name, crest and distinct geisha population, with geisha not typically working outside of their own district. Hanamachi usually contain okiya and ochaya. Historically, hanamachi could contain a high number of okiya and ochaya, and would also contain a kaburenjō as well - a communal meeting place for geisha, typically containing a theatre, rooms where classes in the traditional arts could be held, and a kenban, who would process a geisha's pay, regulation of the profession, and other related matters. Gion, a geisha district in Kyoto, also has a vocational school, called nyokoba. Many of the teachers there are designated as Living National Treasures.Hanamachi were preceded by the registered red-light districts of Japan, known as. Three yūkaku were established in Japan in the early 1600s; Shimabara, Kyoto in Kyoto in 1640;), Shinmachi in Osaka between 1624 and 1644; and Yoshiwara in Edo in 1617.. Yūkaku were originally a place of work for both
Kyoto hanamachi
There are currently five active hanamachi in Kyoto, sometimes referred to as
, from Sanjō Street to Gojō Street, particularly around Shijō Street – four of the five districts are in this area. Kamishichiken is separated from the others, being far to the northwest, while the defunct district of Shimabara is also located to the west; most districts are roughlt centered around their respective rehearsal halls.
Traditions
Each district has a distinctive crest, which appears on geisha's kimono, as well as on lanterns. A summer tradition around the time of the Gion Festival among the hanamachi of Kyoto is to distribute personalized to favored patrons and stores that both maiko and geisha frequent. These feature a crest of the geisha house on the front, and the geisha's name on the back. These are produced by, and are known as . Establishments such as bars that are particularly frequented by geisha often accumulate many of these fans, and typically display them in the summermonths. All the Kyoto hanamachi stage public dances annually, known as Japanese traditional dance, featuring both maiko and geisha. These also feature an optional tea ceremony before the performance. These are performed for several weeks, mostly in the spring – four hanamachi hold them in the spring with one holding theirs in the autumn. Different districts started public performances in different years; the oldest are those of Gion Kōbu and Pontochō, whose performances started at the Kyoto exhibition of 1872, while others started performing in the 1950s. There are many performances, with tickets being inexpensive, ranging from around 1500 yen to 4500 yen. The best-known is Miyako odori performed in Gion Kōbu, which is one of the two oldest and has the most performances. The dances are as follows :
– Kamishichiken, spring, varying dates, currently last week of March and first week of April
– Gion Kōbu, all of April
– Miyagawa-chō, first 2 weeks of April
– Pontochō, most of May
– Gion Higashi, early November
There was also previously:
– Shimabara
There is also a combined show of all five districts, which is called "Five Geisha District Combined Public Performance", or more formally "Kyoto's five geisha districts combined traditional theater special public performance". This takes place during the daytime on two days on a weekend in late June at a large venue, and tickets are significantly more expensive than those for individual districts. Connected with this event, in the evening on these two days there are evening performances with kaiseki meals, either a combined event, or separate ones per district. This is known as the "Five Geisha Districts Evening", and is quite expensive and very limited availability; this has been held since 1994.
