Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Setsubun: Maiko Hairstyles

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Beautiful and charming Tsunemomo of Gion Higashi sporting a special hairstyle for the Setsubun mamemaki, or bean throwing, ceremony at Yasaka Shrine.

The classic wareshinobu hairstyle of a young maiko on the left is worn during a her first three years of service, until her coming of age ceremony.

Left: Ofuku, worn by maiko from the time of their coming of age ceremony until they are ready to turn their collars and become geiko. Far right: Wareshinobu.

Konomi, close up, is accompanied by Maori, who's wears her own hair styled just as Meiji period schoolgirls once did as part of her Setsubun obake, or costume.

Left: Umemodoki / Osomemage hairstyle. Right: It's a mystery!

Maiko of the Gion Kobu district make their way to the main stage of Yasaka Shrine to participate in the mamemaki, or bean throwing ceremony.


Setsubun festivities at Yasaka Shrine, including dances by Miyagawa-cho, Gion Kobu, and Gion Higashi. Thanks to ericity for uploading it to YouTube!

Unfortunately I was not able to attend the Setsubun festivities this year, but I look forward to shooing away devils and ushering in good fortune next year in Kyoto! Oni wa soto! Fuku ha uchi! If you'd like to Learn more about Setsubun, check out my posts from last year.


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kamichichiken's hairstyles are special too and very sofisticated. like here : http://pub.ne.jp/inkyoto/?entry_id=1188966 (scroll down to see the beautiful nawokazu, naozome and katsuru) i wonder who decides who wears a special hairstyle or not....

i can't help you with naming the hairstyle Wakana is wearing T_T, i don't know it either!

Melissa said...

Thanks for that excellent link. Lovely images!

A maiko's rank plays a role in determining her hairstyle on special occasions, so I'm sure it's a factor on Setsubun as well. Naozome's was very interesting, and she was the highest ranking maiko performing...

Other than that, I'm sure their obake (costume) plays a role.

Thanks again for the link, bib, and all your comments m(- -)m

yoroshuu otanomoushimasu!

Anonymous said...

yes i think too that their costume plays a role.

wakana's hairstyle could be the "Oshiyun" found it on the immortalgeisha site. ( i am having vacation so I DO have the time to look up such things XDDD)

here:
http://www.immortalgeisha.com/images/hairstyle/oshiyun_01.jpg

Anonymous said...

Hello boogiedown Meliss~
Seems you know a lot of about the Geisha tradition:) I stumbled upon your blog on flickr while looking through some Kyoto pics. Japan is a serene place to be, especially the old Japan. Hopefully I'll get to visit all of the old Japan in my life time. :)

Inge said...

Hi Melissa, how's it going? Are you planning on moving back to Japan next year or will you just go on a another trip to Kyoto? Judging from this blog your heart is definitely still in Japan - love the photos as usual :-).

Anonymous said...

when you said bean throwing, I thought they would throw beans at yasaka, not from yasaka...how funny...do they have fortunes on them? thanks for posting pretty hairstyles! I miss Kyoto..so graceful, maiko san...

Anonymous said...

what are those hair-ornaments that the maiko are wearing on the right-side (opposite the tama-kanzashi) of their buns? I've been stumped about what they're called.