June 15th, 2017: Congratulations to Kyoto’s newest geiko, Toshisumi (とし純) of Komaya (駒屋) in Miyagawa Cho, on the occasion of her erikae ^o^! おめでとうございますとしすみちゃん! Image courtesy of Marie.
That Was Quick!
Well, a date is finally known for Toshisumi of Komaya’s erikae, and it’s Thursday, June 15! Her sakkō period was slightly shorter than usual, but this is likely because erikae in June tend to be quite hot and not all okiya outside of Gion Kobu have ro kuromontsuki for their geiko to use ^^;
Weekend Update 11/6
Last weekend was hectic, so there was no update on my end. However, new developments are constantly happening in the karyukai! Karyukai News -Toshisumi (とし純) of Komaya (駒屋) in Miyagawa Cho is currently wearing sakkō! Her erikae is expected to be next week. -Koeri (小衿) of Hiroshimaya (廣島屋) in Gion Kobu and Toshiemi (とし恵美) of Komaya (駒屋) in Miyagawa Cho are now wearing ofuku and have become seniors! -Makino (真希乃) of Okaai (岡あい) in Gion Kobu will be leaving the profession on June 25th to get married. -Yukako (有佳子), Ayako (亜矢子), and Shōko (彰子) of Nishimura (西村) in Gion Kobu have left the profession. There is also a rumor that another maiko of Gion Kobu has left the profession, but it is unknown at this time who it may be. Blog News -What’s In a Motif? Part 5 looked at Butterflies. -The Random Fact of The Week looked at Inoue natori fans and popular months for events. -Mylo’s Pick of The Week went to Toshisumi (とし純) of Komaya (駒屋) in Miyagawa Cho for her ethereal-like presence while wearing sakkō. -I uploaded some images of this year’s display of Inoue fans at Anime North. You can check out the album here. -I re-blogged an excellent read about cultural appropriation vs. cultural appreciation since the majority of it pertained to kimono. -Your questions were very serious, and I tried to answer them as best as I could. I hope that my answers were satisfactory and that you’ll continue to send them in ^^!
June 2017: Maiko Toshisumi (とし純) of Komaya (駒屋) in Miyagawa Cho wears the yakko shimada hair style prior to sakkō in preparation for her erikae. Her erikae will take place towards the end of the month ^^ Image courtesy of H.ishibashi1001 on Instagram.
News From Miyagawa Cho!
It’s not exactly the full list, but I did find out from an ochaya who the top earners in Miyagawa Cho were for 2016. Coming in at #1 was Toshisumi (とし純) of Komaya (駒屋) and #2 was Fukutomo (ふく朋) of Horiyae (堀八重)! Congratulations to them for working so hard!
Weekend Update 16/10
Lots of news has come out of the karyukai this week and I’ve been busy too! Karyukai News -Three new erikae announcements have come out this week! They include Chiyoko (知余子) of Nishimura (西村) and Ichitomi (市十美) of Nakagishi (中支志) in Gion Kobu, who will likely be having their erikae together next month, and Toshisumi (とし純) of Komaya (駒屋) in Miyagawa Cho who will be having her erikae in January 2017. This is great news, especially for Gion Kobu who hasn’t had an erikae since December 2015 (an unusually long time for them). Blog News -Not too much has been done on the outside this week except for answering many interesting questions. (Thanks for sending so many!) -The majority of my time has been spent completing the Sister Relationship tab. The biggest achievement so far was the completion of the Ichi line of Pontocho. This involved combing through every Kamogawa Odori program possible, which spanned from 1920 to 2014. I used Liza Dalby’s guide as a reference to see who connects where, but either I couldn’t locate some of the names that she talked about or she wasn’t aware that multiple people had held the name before and/or during the time of her list. Needless to say, it took many, many hours to compile, but it’s been fun since I haven’t been able to find any guides like it in English or Japanese. The only connections that I have to do now are for Miyagawa Cho. -Mylo’s Pick of The Week goes to Fukuno (ふく乃) of Kawayoshi (河よ志) in Miyagawa Cho for the lovely composition and serene look.
One More For The Erikae Train!
It seems as though erikae announcements are exploding right now, and there’s another name to add to the list! Toshisumi (とし純) of Komaya (駒屋) in Miyagawa Cho will be having her erikae in early 2017! This is fantastic news as most Komaya maiko don’t turn their collars and Miyagawa Cho could use some new geiko ^^ You can check out the announcement here.