What’s That Thing? Part 23

Originally I didn’t plan on this answer being so long, but I initially forgot a bunch of the history, so I thought that it would make for a good lesson if I did it in this format ^^ Anonymous asked: “Why do vintage Maiko hairstyles looks so much rounder than their modern day counterparts? Is it due to the substances applied to shape them?” It seems simple enough, but there’s far more than meets the eye when it comes to hair. So, this is going to be answered in two parts as there’s two major factors at play here! Part 1: The Hairstylists  When the karyukai in Kyoto closed down in 1944 the majority of its residents either left for the countryside where it was safe or were conscripted into factory work. Much of that work was in nearby Osaka, which was bombed during the war. When the karyukai reopened in 1946 many of its former residents did not return, either because they didn’t want to come back to the cities as they wanted to stay where they relocated, or they sadly perished. This wasn’t just about the maiko and geiko themselves, but about everyone who supported them too, including hairstylists. Prior to World War II there were said to have been dozens of hairstylists within Gion Kobu alone, but after the war that number dwindled to only a handful. These women (in most cases) suddenly had a high load of geimaiko who needed their hair styled, but obviously there wasn’t enough time to style all of them like they did prior to the war. This is why geiko began to wear katsura as they only need to be styled once a month by a wig specialist and it left the majority of the appointments for hairstylists open for maiko and regular customers. 

Image courtesy of Blue Ruin 1. Part 2: The Construction With only a few hairstylists this also meant that maiko couldn’t spend over an hour each time they got their hair styled as that would severely limit how many girls could have their hair styled at any given time. So, new methods were found to make the same styles, but in more efficient ways. Where styles used to only use the maiko’s real hair and the shape of a style could vary for each girl depending on their hair length, extensions and supports gave them all uniform looks that only took a fraction of the time to set. Their real hair was and still is the main focus, but the extensions, which blend in perfectly with their own hair, make their iconic nihongami styles easy to identify and mimic the same structure as the old ways. A perfect example of how hair changed before and after the war is illustrated in the image above. The maiko in the middle and on the right are both wearing ofuku, but the one in the middle was styled with the “old” ways and the one on the right in the “new” ways. In the old version only a maiko’s real hair is used, so how full the mage is or how rounded the bin are depend entirely on her own hair. The tegara in the back is an actual folded cloth that is directly tied and tucked into the back of the hair. On the right we see the new construction, which looks like this up close:

Image courtesy of Higashi Ichi. The mage is now made with the maiko’s own hair and a hair extension, which provides structure and stability; you can see the base of the extension underneath the tegara. This extension also makes it easier to undo the style when it needs to be reset. Unlike the old tegara, the new ones are pre-folded fabric pieces that tuck in slightly at the bottom and are held in by a pin at the top. Because they’re pre-made they can also feature more intricate decoration and embroidery as their positioning is now controlled.  As for answering the final part of the question about the materials, they haven’t changed at all. A special type of binsuke wax is still used to keep the hair stiff and maiko will still comb in camellia oil to keep it shiny and smelling nice ^^

What’s That Thing? Part 15

I originally made this as a normal answer, but given how many people were interested I decided to make it into a full format feature so that it can be found easier in the future! Anonymous asked: “What is the difference between Tsubushi Shimada and Chu Shimada?” Chū (中), meaning “Middle,” refers to the volume of the mage at the back of the hairstyle. Tsubushi (つぶし/潰し), meaning “Crushed” or “Flat” is the lowest form of the married shimada as its mage is flat and practically horizontal. For a visual example, here’s a Chū Shimada (中島田):

Image courtesy of Outlet Wig. And here’s a Tsubushi Shimada (つぶし島田/潰し島田):

Image courtesy of Outlet Wig. Tsubushi Shimada was worn by older married women and is still worn by older, usually natori, geiko, like Kofumi (小富美) of Masuume (桝梅):

Image courtesy of Onihide-san.

A Random PSA on The Differences Between Wareshinobu and Momoware

This question has been asked a few times in the past, but it’s much easier to explain with images!

So, once again, we’re teaming up with Outlet Wig to show the differences between the Wareshinobu style that’s used by maiko and the Momoware style used by hangyoku. It’s pretty easy to confuse the two, just like it was for The Differences Between Geiko Shimada and Taka Shimada, so let’s take a look at the specifics to see where the differences lay and how you can learn to spot which is which! 1) The Mage (髷) The mage is the topknot of a hairstyle. For the most part the mage are the same size if they’re both styled using real hair or wigs, but when one is styled with real hair and another uses a wig it becomes very different. Wareshinobu with real hair tend to have flatter mage because they’re not held up by a puffing tool that’s very obvious on the wig examples above. The mage on the Wareshinobu also sits slightly higher on head compared to the Momoware. 2) The Bin (鬢) Bin are the sides that frame the face. Probably one of the easiest ways to differentiate the styles quickly, the Wareshinobu bin are always angled at the bottom while the Momoware has flat ended bin. This difference exists because Momoware is actually part of the Shimada family while Wareshinobu is not. 3) The Tabo (髱) The tabo is the section of hair that originates and rests at the back of your neck. The biggest visual difference between the two by far is found in the tabo. Wareshinobu has a very thin and flat tabo while Momoware has a full and long tabo, which is another feature of Shimada styles. 4) The Maegami (前髪) The maegami is the front section of hair that is the width of your forehead. While very close, the tallest/fullest part of the maegami does differ between the two styles; Wareshinobu has the fullest part of the maegami in the center of the section while Momoware has the fullest part of the maegami in the front and closer to the hairline. Outlet Wig carries both the Wareshinobu and Momoware styles under their respective names. They even have the Kyoto Momoware style, which is extremely similar to the Wareshinobu style, but has flat topped bin and very vertical maegami. Follow the highlighted words and links to see their products ^^ Note: You can share this Tumblr post, but please do not share the image without permission.

Someone Asked Me...

What the Sagegami (下げ髪) style looks like for tayū, and it’s very hard to share if I can’t show images of the book. However, there’s a fantastic henshin studio who dresses their clients like tayū and posts the images onto Instagram. Their newest model happens to be wearing sagegami: Example 1 Example 2 It’s possible that they may post more images in the future of this model, but for now even looking through their impressive catalogue of henshins is quite a treat! You can check them out here ^^

What’s In a Book? Part 25

I originally had another book planned for this installment, but the book(s) that I had been waiting for just happened to arrive today (happy early birthday to me!). Since I’ve been waiting to get this book since it came out in December 2016 I knew I had to review this for you all as soon as possible!

Books’ covers courtesy of myself. Nihongami No Sekai: Nihongami No Yuikata (日本髪の世界日本髪の結い方編) - The World of Japanese Traditional Hairstyles: How To Set Japanese Hairstyles by Tetsuo Ishihara 石原哲男 (ISBN 978-4-909031-03-7) Date of Publication: 2016 Language: Dual Japanese and English Format: 2 Hardcover and 1 Softcover Books Availability: Can Only Be Purchased At Takashimaya Department Store. Limited To 1,000 Copies Printed. Price: Around $200 USD New Errors: 0 Upon closing his hair style museum in 2016 Tetsuo Ishihara has been busy teaching and trying to pass on his decades of knowledge, to which this book set can easily be called his magnum opus. It is the ultimate visual step-by-step guide to traditional hairstyles, spread out over three books. They are: Book 1: Third Century Through Modernity I doubt that any book has ever been this thorough nor will there ever be another one as I have no clue how this could even be possible. The book recreates traditional hairstyles starting from the 3rd century and goes through to modern day, and each style is shown as a step by step guide. For this book there are 35 different hairstyles shown with an explanation of when it was popular, who wore it, and how it developed. They are: 1) Taiko Shimada - 太古島田 2) Sōkei - 双髺 3) Kōkei - 高髺 4) Tamamusubi - 玉結び 5) Nage Shimada - 投島田 6) Agemaki - 上げ巻 7) Aigo - あいご 8) Katatemage - 片手髷 9) Ryōtemage - 両手髷 10) Shinobumage - しのぶ髷 11) Genroku Shimada - 元禄島田 12) Utsuo Sakkō - うつお先笄 13) Kushimaki - 櫛巻 14) Shinojimage - 志の字髷 15) Baimage - ばい髷 16) Katsuyama - 勝山 17) Katahazushi - 片外し 18) Sakichigomage - 先稚児髷 19) Ryōwamage - 両輪髷 20) Wariganoko - 割り鹿の子 21) Darumagaeshi - だるまがえし 22) Meotomage - 女夫髷 23) Oshidori (Osu) (Male Bird) - おしどり雄 (Also known as Hina - 雛) 24) Oshidori (Mesu) (Female Bird) - おしどり雌 25) Oshun - お俊 26) Fukurasuzume - ふくら雀 27) Marumage - 丸髷 28) Suisho - 粋書 29) Meotomage - 夫婦髷 30) Chigomage -  稚児髷 31) Kikugasane - 菊重ね 32) Edo Sakkō - 江戸先笄 33) Baichōchō - 貝蝶々 34) Suisha - 水車 35) Taka Shimada - 高島田 Some of them should be familiar as they’re also used by maiko and geiko today, but usually for Setsubun or pre-sakkō styles. For those of you looking to build on the fantastic books on both tayū and maiko hairstyles (all three of which I’ve covered in the past) look no further than the next entry! Book 2: Styles of Maiko and Tayū This is the holy grail of hair styling! It takes all of the styles found in the maiko and tayū books and lays them all out here in a step by step guide. This one features 29 unique hairstyles including: 1) Wareshinobu - 割れしのぶ (Maiko) 2) Fukumage/Ofuku - ふく髷/お福 (Maiko) 3) Katsuyama - 勝山 (Maiko) 4) Yakko Shimada  - 奴島田 (Maiko) 5) Sakkō - 先笄 (Maiko) 6) Geiko Shimada - 芸妓島田 (Geiko) 7) Chū Shimada - 中島田 (Maiko and Geiko) 8) Wareshinobu - 割れしのぶ (Tayū) 9) Ohatsu - お初 (Tayū) 10) Oshidori - おしどり (Tayū) 11) Osome - お染 (Tayū) 12) Tachibana - 橘 (Tayū) 13) Tachibana Kuzushi - 橘くずし (Tayū) 14) Kansuzume - 寒雀 (Tayū) 15) Tsubushi Shimada - つぶし島田 (Tayū) 16) Mitsumage - 三つ髷 (Tayū) 17) Nage Shimada  - 投島田 (Tayū) 18) Sakkō - 先笄 (Tayū) 19) Kinshōjō - 錦祥女 (Tayū) 20) Otoko Genroku - 男元禄 (Tayū) 21) Onna Genroku - 女元禄 (Tayū) 22) Ofuku - お福 (Tayū) 23) Katsuyama  - 勝山 (Tayū) 24) Kago Shimada - かご島田 (Tayū) 25) Genroku Shimada - 元禄島田 (Tayū) 26) Tatehyogo - 立兵庫 (Tayū) 27) Yoshinomage - 吉野髷 (Tayū) 28) Osafune - 長舟 (Tayū) 29) Osuberakashi - おすべらかし (Tayū) I was a bit confused on the spelling of “ofuku” as they use both the hiragana fuku (ふく) and the kanji fuku (福), but it may have just been a slight issue that was overlooked or changed by one of the two English editors. As for geiko shimada, it’s what we’d call “Kyō Shimada” (京島田). This makes sense though as this book looks at styles for people and not wigs (not that there’s anything bad about that!). If you thought that this couldn’t get any better, look no further than... Book 3: Foundation The shortest of the three and the only softcover piece, it truly is the foundation for which all hairstyles can be produced. It includes a huge and very detailed glossary of terms for just about every tool and item involved in styling hair. But, more importantly, it includes the physical measurements that form the literal base for the three main maiko and tayū hairstyles. From there it sets up how the measurements are applied and how the styles are done in painstaking detail of over 100 visual steps each. The four styles shown are wareshinobu, ofuku, sakkō, and tayū ofuku. It’s easy to see that the entire purpose of this little book is to provide the most in-depth knowledge possible for the hairstyles of maiko and tayū and, yes, should you have the proper tools I have no doubt that you could recreate these styles (it’s that detailed). The only thing that I missed from previous versions were the added visual parts that looked at accessories, but with so much information it would have gone off track. It is simply amazing and I can’t recommend it enough if you manage to get your hands on a copy. Rating: ✪✪✪✪✪ (out of 5)

Weekend Update 30/4

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!).

Random Fact of The Week 30/4

On Friday I went to bed early and then Saturday was full of meetings, so I finally have time to sit down and do things! Yes, this feature is a few days late, but better late than never ^^ To determine if a hairstyle is meant to be worn by a married or unmarried woman look at the shape of the bin (sides). Unmarried women will have pointed bin that are angular at the ends. Married women, on the other hand, have flat bin that are practically horizontal at their base. The pointed bin apparently makes a woman look younger and draws the eyes upwards into her hair ornaments. The flat bin is meant to trace the contours of the face and draw the eyes into her own. Oddly enough, when geiko style their own hair for tea ceremonies their bin are pointed ^^;

What’s In a Book? Part 22

I’ve had this book for almost a week now, and I just love it! So I figured I’d skip another feature to do a book review ^^

Book’s cover courtesy of Amazon Japan. 京・嶋原太夫―太夫・髪型の世界 (Kyō - Shimabara Tayū - Tayū - Kamigata No Sekai) by Tetsuo Ishihara (石原哲男) (ISBN 4-7636-3169-1) Date of Publication: 1991 Language: Japanese Format: Hardcover Availability: Beyond Absurdly Rare Price: $150 - 200 USD Errors: 0 This was Tetsuo Ishihara’s first book on traditional hairstyles and you can definitely see how this book became the prototype that eventually lead to the Maiko No Kamigata book and then the Nihongami No Sekai series. It is an incredibly simple book as the majority of it consists of images of tayū hairstyles, but what makes it great is that there’s at least 4 different angles given for each look so that you can see how they differentiate from one another. For some of the initial images it appears as though Mr. Ishihara used a model, but then it becomes evident that the women modeling the hairstyles are real tayū. The book looks at 23 different hairstyles, ranging from junior tayū to senior tayū, both in age and in rank. They are: 1) Wareshinobu (割れしのぶ/われしのぶ) 2) Ohatsu (お初/おはつ) 3) Oshidori (おしどり) 4) Osome (お染/おそめ) 5) Tachibana (橘/たちばな) 6) Tachibana Kuzushi (橘くずし/たちばなくずし) 7) Kansuzume (寒雀/かんすずめ) 8) Tsubushi Shimada (つぶし島田/つぶししまだ) 9) Mitsumage (三つ髷/みつまげ) 10) Nage Shimada (投島田/なげしまだ) 11) Yūgao (夕顔/ゆうがお) 12) Sakkō (先笄/さっこう) 13) Kinshōjo (錦祥女/きんしょうじょ) 14) Onna Genroku (女元禄/おんなげんろく) 15) Otoko Genroku (男元禄/おとこげんろく) 16) Ofuku (お福/おふく) 17) Katsuyama (勝山/かつやま) 18) Kago Shimada (かご島田/かごしまだ) 19) Genroku Shimada (元禄島田/げんろくしまだ) 20) Tatehyōgo (立兵庫/たてひょうご) 21) Yoshino Mage (吉野髷/よしのまげ) 22) Osafune (長舟/おさふね) 23) Sagegami (下げ髪/さげがみ) All styles are spelled exactly as they appear in the book (including the furigana for the kanji). This is followed by one section where there’s some images of one of the hairstyles being put together in a step by step fashion, and it really makes you wonder how some of those styles stand up to gravity! Even with so many mottoi it’s a magnificent sight to behold! After this part there’s information about Shimabara and it introduces the five tayū who were active at the time of the book’s publishing. They were Hanaōgi Tayū (花扇太夫), Tsukasa Tayū (司太夫), Wakagumo Tayū (若雲太夫), Kasuga Tayū (春日太夫), and Usugumo Tayū (薄雲太夫). It shows them both in their lovely outfits and images in and around Shimabara itself (including inside the Wachigaya). There’s also pictures of a tayū dochu, the process of putting make up on, and mochitsuki, the annual mochi making ceremony that tayū used to take part in. The book finishes up with the history of Shimabara, with so many amazing images of tayū in their resplendent outfits. What really piqued my interest was some of the younger tayū wearing what looks identical to a maiko’s darari obi! It’s tied in the usual tayū kokoro (heart) knot, but you can clearly see the kamon on the tare end (it’s the Wachigaya’s peony). I may scan this image at a later date as I have never seen this used before, but it makes so much sense as the tayū would have needed a way to identify their allegiances when not surrounded by kamuro, especially since tayū weren’t exactly independent.   Overall, this book is meant to be viewed based on its images, and there’s no other book that has this much visual detail about tayū, and there likely never will be due to their decline. It’s a wonderful treasure in any collection, but its scarcity and price will likely put it out of the hands of most collectors. Rating: ✪✪✪✪✪ (out of 5)

Random Fact of The Week 3/3

I almost fell asleep before posting this, but I had to make sure to stick to my regiment of coming up with a new random fact every week! Since a very special book happened to arrive at my house today, I’ll share a tidbit from there: There are 23 known hairstyles for tayū, while only 16 for maiko. If geiko are included into the count then there are 21 for geimaiko in total (geiko have approximately 5). Tayū and maiko share 8 styles while tayū and geiko share only 1. I’ll get around to explaining them better when I do the book review ^^v

A Random PSA on The Differences Between Geiko Shimada and Taka Shimada

There’s been a few questions about this lately and while searching to find you all answers I noticed that there really weren’t any in English. So, I’ve made a handy diagram that should clear some things up.

It looks a bit self explanatory, but I’ll go into more detail to help people understand the finer points. When it comes to the many, many variations of the Shimada style the Geiko version is the closest to the Taka version and, at first, they do look almost identical. However, there’s 4 main parts that have different shapes and contours that change a Geiko Shimada to a Taka Shimada and vice versa. 1) The Mage (髷) The mage is best described as the top knot of a hairstyle. In the Geiko Shimada it’s flat and has a steep angle but it’s also wide when looking at it directly. For the Taka Shimada the mage is rounded and very full from the front and it lacks the angle of the Geiko Shimada in the back. 2) The Bin (鬢) Bin are the sides (literally “wings”) that frame the face. There isn’t much of a difference here, but you may notice that the Taka Shimada’s bin are a bit more rounded than the Geiko Shimada’s. 3) The Tabo (髱) The tabo is the section of hair that originates and rests at the back of your neck. In the Geiko Shimada the tabo is thin and contours with the bin. In the Taka Shimada it’s very full and actually extends down slightly longer than the Geiko Shimada. 4) The Maegami (前髪) The maegami is the front section of hair that is the width of your forehead. The Geiko Shimada’s maegami lays flat and brings all of the hair together into one strand that allows kushi (combs) to be anchored. The Taka Shimada’s maegami is full, round, and lacks the anchoring hair.  The differences may seem minor in some areas, but it’s enough that the Geiko Shimada is a different shimada variant than the Taka Shimada.  All images used were from Outlet Wig, who is arguably one of the best dealers of nihongami wigs on the internet. On their website the Taka Shimada is also known as the “Bunkin Taka Shimada” as this is the style that is worn by brides. The Geiko Shimada (which they spell as “芸子”) is also called the “Chū Taka Shimada” which means “Middle Taka Shimada” as it’s less full than the Bunkin Taka but not as flat as the Tsubushi Shimada. Follow the highlighted words and links to see their products ^^

Random Fact of The Week 30/12

For the last fact of the year we’ll look at something festive! On average, a Pontocho maiko will wear 6 different hairstyles before their erikae. They will be any of the following 5 plus sakkō: -Suisha (水車) -Osafune (長船) -Oshun (お俊) -Edo Sakkō (江戸先笄) -Oshidori - Hina or Mesu (おしどり雛と雌) -Kikugasane (菊重ね) -Yakko Shimada (奴島田) While sakkō is always last the others don’t have a specific order minus yakko shimada if it’s added into the mix. Should yakko shimada choose to be worn it will be either the first hairstyle or the final one before sakkō. Each style will be worn for approximately 1 week.

What’s In a Book? Part 8

The second part of a requested set of books that was eluded to a few times last week. This book will likely set you back the most out of any other karyukai book (should you get a copy) but, it is truly in a class of its own.

Image of book’s hardcover courtesy of Japanese Traditional Hairstyle "Nihongami" in Tokyo, Japan Blog (link at the end).   日本髪の世界-舞妓の髪型編 - Nihongami No Sekai - Maiko No Kamigata (Translated into English as “The World of Traditional Japanese Hairstyles/Hairstyles of The Maiko”) by Tetsuo Ishihara 石原 哲男 Date of Publication: 2004 Language: Dual Japanese and English Text Format: Hardcover Plus DVD Availability: Extremely Rare. Copies were snatched up quickly when it came out Price: About $250 If you manage to find someone willing to part with a copy Errors: 1 (English Issue) While other books have focused completely on karyukai information, this one is the definitive guide for the hair styles of maiko. What sets itself apart from its 1993 counterpart is that all major maiko hair styles are shown in glorious step-by-step images and it is full of beautiful bonuses. The model for this book is Shinahide (志奈英) of Hatsunoya (初乃屋) in Pontocho, further continuing the ties that this author has to the Pontocho community. This book goes over Wareshinobu (割れしのぶ), Ofuku (おふく), Yakko Shimada (奴島田), Katsuyama (勝山), and Sakkō (先笄) in such detailed images that, should you be so inclined, you could likely do these hair styles by yourself at home (warning though: they are very hard to pull off without training, so having this book will not suddenly make you able to do these hair styles by yourself). It also shows special hair styles that Pontocho uses before sakkō including Oshidori (おしどり), Kikugasane (菊重ね), Suisha (水車), Edo Sakkō (江戸先笄), and Osafune (長舟). Like its earlier counterpart, it does include the step-by-step guide of the maiko make-up and dressing process and the kanzashi calendar.  What it does improve upon from the older version is its images of maiko pocchiri (obidome) and even adds in kanokodome (the kanzashi that sit on top of the mage section of the wareshinobu style). There are dozens upon dozens of them taken from okiya in all five kagai and it is truly a feast for the eyes to see examples that are well over 100 years old and special ones that were commissioned during the height of Western art styles (the Art Nouveau and Art Deco ones are among my favorites). After this it then goes into the erikae process with Shinahide (just like with Momino) but has far more images than the previous book. It also includes small biographies (a few pages) on each kagai along with images of maiko and geiko who were active at that time. For those who are wondering, Shinahide is no longer active as she left the profession to be married. The only error I could find for this book was on the English side of the text, with Gion Kobu being written as “Gion Cobu” (I really don’t like when people change Ks to Cs for no reason. In this case, I feel like I’m reading “Gion Cob Salad”). On top of its lovely images, it also includes a DVD that shows the ofuku styling in a very detailed 30 minute video (it is in Japanese but does have English subtitles) along with the make-up and dressing process. Overall, I can’t even begin to describe how beautiful and thorough this book is. I managed to purchase it some years back directly from the museum at the cover price of 10,000 yen (around $100 USD) but, since the museum is now closed, I don’t think that you can find a brand new copy. If you do manage to find a used one I highly suggest buying it if you can afford the steep cover price. For those of you who live in the Toronto area I managed to find out that the University of Toronto has a copy of this book in their library! You likely have to be a student to access this book, but it is so far the only example I can find of a library owning a copy outside of Japan.  Rating: ✪✪✪✪✪ (out of 5) To check out the Tokyo Kamiyui’s blog you can see it here at http://kamiyui2010.blog133.fc2.com/.

What's In a Book? Part 7

Today we’re looking at a book that was requested from my library of personal books. Unlike every other book I’ve done so far this book is extremely rare and it is highly unlikely that you may ever get your hands a copy. However, it’s nice to know that books like these do exist and that there truly are some rare books on maiko and geiko for collectors.

Book’s hardcover courtesy of Amazon Japan. 舞妓の髪型 -京-先斗町 - Maiko No Kamigata - Kyō - Pontocho by Tetsuo Ishihara 石原 哲男 (ISBN 4-8104-1294-6) Date of Publication: 1993 Language: Japanese Only Availability: Very Rare - Had a low print run to begin with Price: About $150-200 Errors: 0 If you do a search for “Maiko No Kamigata” you’ll likely find the 2004 version (which I hope to cover next). This 1993 version is the foundation on which the later version would build, both in images and text.  First and foremost, as the title suggests, this book is about the hair styles of maiko. Mr. Ishihara, the founder of Kyoto’s Traditional Hair Museum (which recently closed last year), is a master kamiyui (髪結), a traditional Japanese hair stylist. In this book he shows how a maiko’s hair is styled in its various forms;wareshinbou, ofuku, yakko shimada, katsuyama, and sakkō are shown finished, but only ofuku is shown with 64 step-by-step images. Following the hair styling, the make up procedures for a maiko are shown in 32 step-by-step images. This is then followed by the maiko dressing procedure, shown in 46 step-by-step images. The maiko who acted as a model for this book, Momino もみ乃, is still an active geiko in Pontocho today! The next part shows beautiful images that cover the entire kanzashi calendar, a full page of beautiful obidome (or pocchiri), some hanameishi (name cards), and some uchiwa (round fans) with the names of maiko and geiko on them. There is also a small section showing misedashi (with maiko Momichō もみ蝶) and erikae (with Momino). The rest of the book is filled with images of Pontocho, from daily life, to special events, and the Kamogawa Odori. There are even some old black and white photographs from pre-WWII showing maiko with various hair styles and formal dress. It is a feast for the eyes, but for people who can’t understand Japanese it loses a bit of its information (there are sections in the back that explain the various hair styles and events that take place in Pontocho). I could not find any errors, even in the Japanese text. It’s a lovely book, but it pales in comparison to the updated (and bilingual) 2004 version. Rating: ✪✪✪ (out of 5)