On Saturday July 9, there was an event involving geisha in the Mitsukoshi Department Store located in Nihonbashi. As it was an event by Mitsukoshi for people who were inside the department store, it was completely free to watch. You just had to enter the department store at the first floor.
The moment my friend told me that there would be geisha performing on this day, I knew that I had to go. This would mark my first time actually seeing geisha in real life, and I could not wait.
The event consisted of the geisha performing at a stage, accompanied by three women playing traditional instruments and singing. I was surprised to see that there was not a big crowd, since I have always thought that geisha are among some of the most recognizable things of Japanese culture. Besides this, Mitsukoshi is the oldest department store chain in Japan as it was founded in 1673 in Nihonbashi, and has a rich history just by itself. This all came together in an event that I did not want to miss.
The performers were right in front of the huge statue of the Goddess of Sincerity in the middle of the department store, and this added to the traditional feeling of the event.
The geisha danced along to a few different songs and stories. The singers alternated between singing melodies and chanting stories while the geisha moved along with the music. It was at times really as if the performers took us back a few hundred years ago to Japan in the times where Tokyo was still known as Edo. This was even despite the fact that we were watching them inside this huge modern department store.
It was truly fascinating to see the geisha, with their white faces, beautiful kimono, and graceful movements. If you have not seen them in real life before, then you have an experience waiting for you. Although it might not interest everybody, I can definitely recommend seeing geisha at least one time in your life. If not only for yourself, it also gives you an interesting story you can tell to others, and it is a part of traditional Japanese culture.
On a side note, the Mitsukoshi department store in Nihonbashi is in itself worth a visit.
