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

July - the month of Gion Matsuri

July is the end of the rainy season and the beginning of the summer. It is the month of fireworks, the hottest days and the Tanabata festival. And the month of Gion Matsuri, one of the three largest festivals in Japan.

Gion Matsuri takes place in Kyoto, the ancient capital city of Japan. Throughout July, there are street fairs with music, games and Japanese festival food. The crowning event is Yamaboko Junko, the procession of 32 giant decorated floats through the streets of Kyoto on July 17th. In the preceding evenings of the previous three days these floats are illuminated by lanterns and in the evening of July 16th thousands of people dressed in Yukata take to the pedestrianized streets of downtown Kyoto to view them amid the constant festival music of flutes, drums and bells.

This celebration initially originated as part of a purification ceremony in response to a plague when a priest of the Yasaka shrine led a procession through Kyoto in an attempt to appease the Shinto gods. The plague ended soon, but this was repeated wherever an outbreak would occur. In the year 970 it was decreed an annual event and has since seldom been broken.


The Blue Lotus Okiya welcomed the new month with the Gion Matsuri opening performance on July 1st at 1pm SLT: in the beautiful scenery of the Cherry Path Gardens Umeha, Hatsuyo and the three Shikomi Bryony, mushroom and amarna danced to the melody and lyrics of Gion Kouta, a traditional and very popular folksong in Japan, played by me (Ichisumi) on the shamisen. We were dressed in the same Kimono of Flower&Willow and wore the same Gion Matsuri kanzashi of Hana Katsuraya. In spite of some SL problems all went well.

In the course of Gion Matsuri we will hold more performances and Ozashiki, please watch our blog calendar and teahouse group for keeping up-to-date.

Hatsuyo's Debut

Friday 24th of April, 2009. A new Blue Lotus Okiya maiko emerged into the second life geisha world.

Hatsuyo, Solariad Babenco, debuted amongst much fanfare at the SS Galaxy Cruise Ship. Her first performance as a maiko featured a dark tale with deep meaning and reflected her complex nature. The performance was packed and extra seating was quickly resolved by our gracious hosts at the SS Galaxy. In attendance amongst many honored guests and patrons also were our fellow Kenban sisters there to wish her the best.

At the Blue Lotus Okiya a misedashi is often the reward after months of tutelage, hard work, and dedication. We celebrate it over the course of 7 days. Much like a real life debut the maiko visits other venues that we normally perform at and other okiya and introduce herself to everyone as her new professional self. We also celebrate with performances scattered over the next 7 days ranging from stage shows to quiet conversational opportunities with the debuting maiko.

Hatsuyo is one of our shining stars and a greatly honored addition to the Blue Lotus Okiya. Come by and get to know her.

Miyako Odori ~ Dance of the Capital

Miyako Odori, or the Dance of the old Capital, is a month long series of dances and cultural events performed by the geiko and maiko of Gion Kobu annually throughout April. The month is a plethora of dances, plays, ceremonial services, and displays of art and ikebana most created by the geisha themselves. A cultural celebration of Japanese traditions and history.

The SL Miyako Odori 2009 hosted at the Blue Lotus Okiya features several okiya of the SL Geisha Kenban. We hope to uphold the spirit of these traditions and the Kyoto Hanamachi as well as create new traditions unique to the SL Geisha Community.

The opening ceremonies commenced on April 1st 9:00 am SLT with an encore at 7:00pm SLT. Both shows were well recieved and attended by members of the SL community. A group dance performance to the sakura song preceded the Tea ceremony Demonstration. Everyone was dressed as traditionally as SL possible with, Hair and kanzashi provided by Hana Katsuraya, Kimono by Geisha Dreams and Fans by Tenran. Our main Poster this year features Blue Lotus maiko Ichisumi and soon to debut maiko Umeha, Hana.

We would like to thank out performers:

geisha Ichiwaka of Mitsuba Okiya

Ichisumi, Megumi, Nariko, Hatsuyo, Umeha, Aika, Eva, Zeek, Angela, Mig and Vera of Blue Lotus Okiya

Chelsea, Callidora, and Koyuki of Pontocho Okiya