And that last picture provides the first real clue that this girl is not the maiko (apprentice geisha) that she otherwise appears to be, because I don't think that a real maiko would flash the peace sign for a passer's-by photo like this.

February 3rd is the cultural holiday setsubun, known for bean throwing, the warding off of evil spirits, and some Shinto rites that involve intense bonfires.

There's also an old tradition, fallen out of popularity in recent decades and now mostly unknown to the younger generations, of transforming your appearance for the day into something you're not... if you do this, so the tradition goes, you'll be free of evil spirits for the next year.

And that brings us to today's photos. Ikuko, the 20-year-old girl in these photos, is a normal collage student who transformed into a maiko for the Setsubun holiday.

For most girls wanting to do something like this (for the Setsubun holiday, or just for fun), Kyoto has plenty of places where one can pay some small fee to play dress-up as a maiko and go for an attention-grabbing photo-op stroll. I see it all the time, and these “fake maiko” are easy to spot (such as seen here) by their mannerisms and the cheap quality of their clothes and accessories, in the same way you can easily tell that the kid showing up at your doorstep on Halloween is not really Spider Man.

Ikuko, for her transformation, did something very different.

I showed these photos to an older lady who really knew the subject, and even when she saw the “Peace” photo she wasn't quite sure that Ikuko wasn't a real maiko, because everything else about her seemed spot-on correct.... because it was. The clothes and accessories are all real, as was the preparation: she had spent three and a half hours being prepared by a bevy of professionals that normally exclusively serve the real maiko and geiko (Kyoto geisha) population. People to do the hair (which, like a real maiko, is Ikuko's real hair), her makeup, and even a specialist to help her get into the kimono. Not many women, maiko and geiko included, can actually dress themselves in these kimono.

Having natural grace and class, as Ikuko does, helps to complete the package.

This kind of experience is just not something one can normally have, but Ikuko comes from an artist's family with connections in the wider cultural community (her dad is the potter mentioned here), so I suppose that's how this unique opportunity came about. Her family is friends with Zak's, and I met Ikuko a few years ago when she came to his house to babysit Zak's kids.

Zak was asked to take photos for Ikuko's “transformation”, and Zak was kind enough to invite me along as well.

The narrow streets made for a picturesque setting at times, and for mild crowded chaos at others. Japanese and foreign tourists alike would crowd in for photos of Ikuko, and with Ikuko.

I chose to include the picture above because I like the daring bold of the couple in the foreground, who had just had their photo taken with Ikuko. The fuzzy guy in the near foreground is a mailman who had just ridden his scooter through the scrum around Ikuko with a certain indifference that I'm sure comes from the frequency with which he encounters this kind of scene during the course of his day in Gion.

Ikuko was much more accommodating to stopping for others than a real maiko would be, so someone familiar with Kyoto would pretty quickly realize that she wasn't a maiko. Real maiko, when encountered out on the street like this, can not generally be accommodating to passers by because they are either working (and it would be rude to divert concentration from their customer for your photo), or they're busy on their way somewhere.

The evening after I took these photos, on the way back from dinner at Uroko with Damien, I came across two maiko, a geiko, and their customers piling into taxis near the Shijo Ohashi bridge. A crowd had gathered, but the maiko and geiko completely ignored everyone but their customers to the point that a maiko was almost plowed over because without looking she stepped right into the path of the flow of foot traffic on the sidewalk. The person who almost crashed into her happened to be the person right in front of me, and I'm glad there wasn't an “event” because I might have then tripped over both of them, and even if not, I didn't have my camera with me so what's the point?😉.

Anyway, I don't really care for the whole “geisha” thing and generally make a specific point not to pay attention when I come across them like this, but I really enjoyed the photoshoot with Ikuko. Perhaps it's because it was a normal Japanese girl dipping, just for a moment, into part of her cultural history in a culturally-authentic way.

Also, it helps that Ikuko was accommodating for photos and was just generally a nice person, and of course it helps a lot that, unlike the majority of maiko and geiko that I come across, she is actually attractive. I hope to do a “normal” photoshoot with her when the weather warms up, perhaps at the Haradanien Garden.