@missmyloko / missmyloko.tumblr.com
November 27th, 2023: A new maiko is celebrating her misedashi! Ichiyuki (市ゆき) of Ichi (市) in Kamishichiken has made her debut after first being spotted among her fellow geimaiko at the Zuiki Matsuri in October! She is the second misedashi for Kamishichiken this year and Ichi's third active maiko. Her outfit features beautiful colorful cranes among haze and a golden obi with lucky treasures, waves, and fans ^^ おめでとうさんどす市ゆきちゃん ^o^! Image is courtesy of the Kamishichiken Kabukai.
October 27th, 2022: Congratulations to Kyoto’s newest maiko on her misedashi! Ichikiyo (市きよ) has debuted from the Ichi (市) okiya in Kamishichiken! Although she is without an onesan, she will be well taken care of by Ichi’s roster of veteran geimaiko and the Kamishichiken community as a whole. Her outfit features waves with boats filled with all season motifs, such as chrysanthemums, bamboo, and plum blossoms, and her obi features woven karabana! おめでとうさんどす市きよちゃん ^o^! Image is courtesy of the Kamishichken Kabukai.
November 9th, 2021: Congratulations to Kyoto’s newest maiko on her misedashi! Ichiyū (市ゆう) has debuted from the Ichi (市) okiya in Kamishichiken! This has been a busy year for Kamishichiken with 4 new debuts, a very happy turnaround considering they had 0 last year. It’s not the easiest to see in this photo, but her kuromontsuki features kimono hanging on racks surrounded by ribbons and her obi features golden karabana ^^ おめでとうさんどすいちゆうちゃん ^o^! Image courtesy of the Kamishichiken Kabukai.
April 5th, 2021: Congratulations to Kyoto’s newest maiko on her misedashi! Ichisuzu (市すず) has debuted from the Ichi (市) okiya in Kamishichiken! She is the first maiko to debut from the small district in a year and a half and is currently the third active maiko in her district. She appears to a bit taller than the average maiko, so it’s good to see girls of unusual size joining the karyukai! おめでとうさんどす市すずちゃん ^o^! Image is courtesy of Katsufumi.
Another batch of retirements have now been confirmed. although two of the names should come as no surprise. Ichiume (市梅) of Ichi (市) in Kamishichiken Ichigiku (市ぎく) of Ichi (市) in Kamishichiken Tomihoshi (富豊志) of Tomikiku (富菊) in Gion Higashi Rumors surrounding the Ichi girls have been going around for a few months now, but it’s been confirmed by reputable sources that they are indeed gone. Shocking though is Tomihoshi as she was a maiko for only a year.
November 13th, 2018: Congratulations to Ichiume (市梅) of Ichi (市) in Kamishichiken on the occasion of her misedashi! She is the imōto of natori geiko Umegiku (梅ぎく), from whom she takes the “梅” kanji from. Umegiku is also the onesan to Ichigiku (市ぎく) who debuted a few weeks ago from Ichi as well. Ichiume’s career started off on a bit of a confused note; she was first mistaken for a minarai back in August when she was performing her tameshiyui (hair trial). From there, someone had spread rumors of her geimei being “Ichihiro,” which we now know to be misheard or misinterpreted. However, knowing that she was still around after so many retirements was a great surprise in October and now we get to see her take her first steps into what hopes to be a promising career ^^
おめでとうさんどす市梅ちゃん ^o^! Images courtesy of The Kamishichiken Kabukai, Katsufumi and Adachi Kyoto.
Meet the future of Ichi (市) in Kamishichiken! Today we saw the debut of Ichigiku (市ぎく) and also got to see what else they have in store. Their new minarai, Ichiume (市うめ), will be debuting on November 13th, which is three weeks from now! Ichiume is the minarai that everyone was calling Ichihiro during the summer, so it appears as though rumors of her geimei were a bit off, but the good news is that she is still around! Their shikomi-san has also been around for a few months, but I don’t expect her to debut anytime soon. Her debut will likely be in the new year, but you never know! It’s good to see that other okiya in Kamishichiken are still thriving and cultivating the next generation of maiko and geiko to carry on the traditions of Kamishichiken! Pictured beside the girls is geiko Umewaka (梅わか), who is also associated with Ichi ^^ Image courtesy of Nikosan Nishikawa.
October 24th, 2018: Congratulations to Ichigiku (市ぎく) of Ichi (市) in Kamishichiken on her misedashi! Unlike other Ichi girls she does not have an Ichi geiko for an onesan, but rather well respected natori geiko Umegiku (梅ぎく), also associated with Ichi! She is also the first debut from Ichi in almost two years, with the last one being her okiya onesan Ichiaya (市彩) who, in response to Ichigiku’s upcoming debut, was recently promoted to senior status. Not too much is known about Ichigiku yet, but she already seems very relaxed in her new role ^^ おめでとうさんどす市ぎくちゃん ^o^! Images courtesy of Adachi Kyoto, Kyoto Insider, and Kyoto Yukimaru.
October 3rd, 2018: Remember that Ichi (市) minarai in Kamishichiken that’s been hinted at for a while now? During the Kamishichiken Beer Garden she made a few appearances and told customers that her geimei would be Ichihiro. However, now that she has officially started her minarai period we have concrete clarification! Her name is Ichigiku (市ぎく), meaning “First Chrysanthemum,” and her misedashi will be on October 24th! Hopefully we’ll see more photos of her tomorrow at the Zuiki Matsuri ^^ As a side note, Ichiaya (市彩) of Ichi (市) has been promoted to senior and is now wearing the ofuku hairstyle ^^ Images are courtesy of Yannari K.
Non-Gion Kobu related leavings can also happen after odori, and it seems as though these two have left under very different circumstances. The latest ones to leave are:
Ichimomo (市桃) of Ichi (市) in Kamishichiken
Chikasuzu (千賀すず) of Komaya (駒屋) in Miyagawa Cho
It’s not all bad though! Ichimomo actually retired because she got married over the weekend! She was a geisha literally right up until the day before her wedding, so her dedication to the karyukai is quite commendable. I can still see her being a part of the Kamishichiken community in the future as it’s rare for a geiko to cut all ties when they marry. As for Chikasuzu, it appears as though the life of a maiko was too much, but she’s still young enough that she can easily go back to school or pursue a whole new career. We wish them both the best in the their future endeavours!
April 24th, 2018: Congratulations to Kyoto’s newest geiko, Ichitaka (市多佳) of Ichi (市) in Kamishichiken, on the occasion of her erikae! She is wearing Ichi’s standout kuromontsuki with golden waves that many of her fellow onesan, such as Ichimari, also wore on their special day. Hopefully it will bring her good luck ^^ おめでとうございます市多佳さん ^o^! Images courtesy of Adachi Kyoto on Instagram.
April 18th, 2018: As one era ends, another will soon begin. Ichitaka (市多佳) of Ichi (市) in Kamishichiken has finally been spotted wearing sakkō just days before her April 24th erikae! You may have noticed a trend before as I really like to see images of maiko from behind while they’re wearing sakkō. It just seems more joyous to see their final hairstyle while hiding their face, which we’ll see anew when their transformation into a geiko is complete. Thankfully we won’t have to wait long ^^ Image is courtesy of Islander.
Sorry fans, it’s not about Umechie. BUT! It is about another maiko and it happens to be an erikae announcement! Ichitaka (市多佳) of Ichi (市) in Kamishichiken will be having her erikae on April 24th! She is expected to wear yakko shimada throughout the odori and possibly change to sakkō right before it ends on April 7th.
Ichitaka has been tying her obiage for over a year now, and it seems as though she was held back from having her erikae until the completion of the Kitano Odori. Knowing that she’s decided to stay will be a great boost to Kamishichiken as they’ve lost a few tachikata geiko over the past year. You can check out the announcement here ^^
What would Pontocho be without the addition of at least one new Ichi girl per year? Thankfully, we don’t need to know the answer! Pontocho has been hiding a second minarai and her name is Ichisato (市沙登)! Her onesan is Ichiemi (市笑) of Tanmika (丹美賀) but she is from Masunoya (桝之矢)! The date of her misedashi is currently unknown, but it is expected soon. You can view an image of her misedashi uchi iwai here.
There’s only 2 weeks left in the year, so we’re almost at the wire! Karyukai News -For people wondering about new jikata geiko Ichisumi (市純) of Ichi (市) in Kamishichiken: she debuted back in September and her name has been on the Sisters tab for a while now. I forgot to mention it at the time as there were no images and without confirmation I don’t usually add things. -Hisamomo (久桃) of Tanmika (丹美賀) in Pontocho has now moved from the Oshun style to the Osafune (長船) style! You can see a picture of her hair here. -New shikomi belonging to Odamoto and Ninben were seen at Kotohajime on Tuesday. This means that they could be months or even a year away from their debut, so not much is known about them yet. Blog News -What’s In a Book? Part 19 looked at Women of The Pleasure Quarters by Lesley Downer. -Mylo’s Pick of The Week shines the spotlight on Katsusen (佳つ扇) of Odamoto (小田本) in Gion Kobu. -I uploaded images from the Anime North Kimono Display 2016. You can view the large resolution images here. -The Random Fact of The Week looked at Kyoto’s newest okiya! -You sent in an amazing number of questions once again this week! I really like answering them so feel free to keep them coming! -Some kamon were upgraded to their newer, higher resolution forms (I’ll let you guess which ones changed, but take a look at the finished Inoue one!)
This one isn’t so much of a “fact” as it is a bunch of “facts” that are all related. The following are the most popular kanji in each district, with percentages given based on how many names I’ve translated so far: Gion Kobu: Ko (子) 171/1057 (16.2%) Pontocho: Ichi (市) 76/481 (15.8%) Kamishichiken: Ume (梅) 36/165 (21.8%) Miyagawa Cho: Chi (千) 33/323 (10.2%) Gion Higashi: Kano (叶) 16/124 (12.9%) While it’s a bit harder to say definitely which are the most popular as some hanamachi only have 100 or so names (Gion Higashi’s “Kano” was only 1 higher than “Fu/富” and “Mi/美” who both had 15), in other cases it’s incredibly clear. Some kanji seem to correlate with symbols of their districts, like Ume for Kamishichiken due to it being right next to the Kitano Tenmangu shrine (noted for its plum blossoms), or Ichi in Pontocho for having one of the longest known (and unbroken) naming lines in the karyukai. Miyagawa Cho’s Chi was very unexpected as it didn’t seem to occur as often as some newer kanji, but it still gets a fair amount of use even today. Gion Kobu’s Ko shows how popular normal sounding girl’s names are (most Japanese girl’s names end in “子”) and gives the best sample size. In the end, this was pretty cool to calculate and something I don’t think that most of us think of too often ^^
Congratulations to Ichiaya (市彩) of Ichi (市) in Kamishichiken on her misedashi today! Her onesan is Ichimari (市まり).
