The Kamogawa Odori

Yesterday J and I went to Kyoto, one of my favourite places in the world...thus far.

I always manage to get a boost of inspiration when I visit that place and yesterday was no exception.

Whilst meandering through Gion, we stumbled upon a small theatre with a number of people lined up for an event that looked as though it would be starting soon. We then saw a poster advertising the Geisha dances of Spring. How fortunate, we thought, and decided to enquire if there were any tickets still available for this performance. There were, up the back of course, but the theatre was small enough to be able to enjoy the performance no matter where you were seated.

The particular dance we saw was 'The Kamogawa Odori', apparently the most famous of the Spring dances, and one that has been performed in the Pontocho district of Gion since 1872.

As my understanding of the Japanese language is not that advanced, I was unable to follow the story entirely, however, visually the performance was stunning, and I was able to find out plenty of information about that particular dance, and story, on the internet.

The second half of the performance was a series of dances representing a selection from the 11th century Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon.

It was incredibly beautiful and I am so glad I got to witness one of these performances before returning home.