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varjohaltiaWe got to Gion a bit early, and spent a while wandering around the neighborhood prior to the arranged programming for the day.
Thanks to Naoko who arranged a lot of neat things, we had tickets to the Miyako Odori dance, complete with "tea ceremony" prior to the performance. The linked article says something about a spectacular 20 geishas dancing in the finale; the 2011 performance had 60! If you're ever in Kyoto during the right time of year, I highly recommend seeing the dance. The music is a bit alien, and while the 600 yen optional program guide does have English summaries of each scene, the context and finer points can still remain a bit murky. However, the performance is just plain pretty, the seats are perfectly comfortable, it only lasts for an hour, and the outfits and production are indescribably gorgeous. If you have a choice of seats (seating is assigned), anywhere near the edges of the floor in the front half is good. Side is better than center, because the stage wraps around and you'll get to be closer to the musicians and the dancers as they enter and exit the main stage.
The tea ceremony was a bit of a conveyor belt affair -- don't expect the real thing. You do, however, get to see a couple of pretty geishas perform tea-related activities, and you get a traditional snack, tea-ceremony style tea (which was quite delicious, actually) and a keepsake dessert plate, so the all-inclusive ticket is still well worth it.
After the performance we passed through the Yasaka-jinja to the Maruyama park behind it to check the status of the cherry blossoms; the park is one of the prime spots in Kyoto for cherry blossom viewing, and while the blossoms weren't in full bloom yet, the various festival food vendors certainly were. From there, we ventured a bit further afield to a small restaurant introduced to me as "Awesomeburger" thanks to its good burgers. After the burger, we headed back to Kiyamachi and Pontochō for some night photography. The two roads are basically parallel and a block apart with a number of suspicious alleys between the two.
Thanks to Naoko who arranged a lot of neat things, we had tickets to the Miyako Odori dance, complete with "tea ceremony" prior to the performance. The linked article says something about a spectacular 20 geishas dancing in the finale; the 2011 performance had 60! If you're ever in Kyoto during the right time of year, I highly recommend seeing the dance. The music is a bit alien, and while the 600 yen optional program guide does have English summaries of each scene, the context and finer points can still remain a bit murky. However, the performance is just plain pretty, the seats are perfectly comfortable, it only lasts for an hour, and the outfits and production are indescribably gorgeous. If you have a choice of seats (seating is assigned), anywhere near the edges of the floor in the front half is good. Side is better than center, because the stage wraps around and you'll get to be closer to the musicians and the dancers as they enter and exit the main stage.
The tea ceremony was a bit of a conveyor belt affair -- don't expect the real thing. You do, however, get to see a couple of pretty geishas perform tea-related activities, and you get a traditional snack, tea-ceremony style tea (which was quite delicious, actually) and a keepsake dessert plate, so the all-inclusive ticket is still well worth it.
After the performance we passed through the Yasaka-jinja to the Maruyama park behind it to check the status of the cherry blossoms; the park is one of the prime spots in Kyoto for cherry blossom viewing, and while the blossoms weren't in full bloom yet, the various festival food vendors certainly were. From there, we ventured a bit further afield to a small restaurant introduced to me as "Awesomeburger" thanks to its good burgers. After the burger, we headed back to Kiyamachi and Pontochō for some night photography. The two roads are basically parallel and a block apart with a number of suspicious alleys between the two.
