A month full of events: reviewing Miyako Odori

Today, with our final dance and a ryurei tea ceremony, a month full of events and celebrations has come to an end. Not only we had a diversity of things we did, like cherry viewing, celebratory dances, a play and a time to share poetry, but also various places to perform at - be it under the splendor of the cherry trees in our Okiya gardens or the Noh stage at our teahouse, on the SS Galaxy cruise ship or in the home sim of the Kanzeon clan. And to each single event a lot people came to witness this special time with us and make this month full of successful, enjoyable and rememberable days, making us look forward to next year already. Thank you, dear patrons, for all your time, presence and support!

As we had so many differents events, a summary of each one would make this post too long. But please enjoy the attached pics and let the past month pass by your eyes once more!
All pictures but the last three are from our flickr photo pool. Please follow this link to see more.

Lining up before the opening dance on April 9th

Okaasan's opening speech on April 9th

Sharing poems about the cherry blossom in SS Galaxy, April 10th

Hanami, cherry viewing, on April 15th

Celebratory dance in Asuka, April 17th (above & below)


The winter scene of the stage for the play "blossom flower", performed on April 21st (no other pictures available yet, but please follow this link for a video)

Closing ceremony on April 30th: the final dance, performed to a story of shikomi Siell

The ryurei tea ceremony with Umeha preparing the tea, Ichisumi explaining all steps and minarai Kiki and Icefyre (left) serving the tea to the guests, April 30th. Picture taken by Izzy Yuhara

April: month of Miyako Odori

When you travel through Japan this month, you will encounter a country covered with blooming trees: red, white and pink blossoms of peach and cherry unfold their splendour, and here and there still lingering plum blossoms can be found. It is the month of hanami, cherry blossom viewing, when thousand of people gather for a picnic around blooming cherry trees, it is the month of chatsumi, the start of picking tea, and for tea people it marks the start of the summer season when they part from the sunken hearth (ro) built in into the tea room to the portable hearth (furo). But this time I don't want to set the focus on tea, as April features another exceptional event: the third anniversary of our Okiya on April 9th! And it also marks the start of our Miyako Odori.

Miyako Odori is a whole month lasting dance festival performed by the Maiko and Geiko of Gion Kobu that goes back to the 19th century. In 1869 the capital of Japan was moved to a former fisher village called Edo, now known as Tokyo, and caused the decline of Kyoto (back then still known as Miyako) that had been the capital for more than thousand years. That changed in 1872, when Kyoto used the there put world exhibition to promote prosperity with an a whole month lasting "dance festival of the old capital" - Miyako Odori. It is now one of the main events in Kyoto.

We are very happy to invite you to celebrate the following events with us!


Miyako Odori Opening Ceremonies and Blue Lotus Anniversary
Friday, April 9th, 12pm SLT
Blue Lotus Cherry Paths

~*~*~ Sakura Poem
~*~*~ Saturday, April 10th, 2pm SLT
~*~*~ SS Galaxy

Blossom Viewing
Thursday, April 15th, 1pm SLT
Blue Lotus Cherry Paths

~*~*~ Festival of Blossoms
~*~*~ Monday, April 12th, 5pm SLT
~*~*~ Blue Lotus Okiya

Celebratory Dance
Saturday, April 17th, 12pm SLT
Asuka

~*~*~ Play "Blossom Flower"
~*~*~ Wednesday, April 21st, 12:30pm SLT
~*~*~ Blue Lotus Noh stage

Blossom Dance
Thursday, April 22nd, 7pm SLT
SS Galaxy

~*~*~ Blossom Viewing
~*~*~ Thursday, April 29th, 1pm SLT
~*~*~ Blue Lotus Cherry Paths

Closing Ceremonies
Friday, April 30th, 7pm SLT
Blue Lotus Cherry Paths