Saturday, December 7, 2013

Gion - Geisha District of Kyoto, Japan

Gion is Kyoto's most famous geisha district, located around Shijo Avenue between Yasaka Shrine in the east and the Kamo River in the west. It is filled with shops, restaurants and ochaya (teahouses), where geiko (Kyoto dialect for geisha) and maiko (geiko apprentices) entertain. Geisha are professional entertainers who attend guests during meals, banquets and other occasions. They are trained in various traditional Japanese arts, such as dance and music. Their role is to make guests feel at ease with conversation, drinking games and dance performances. Gion attracts tourists with its high concentration of traditional wooden machiya merchant houses. Due to the fact that property taxes were formerly based upon street frontage, the houses were built with narrow facades only five to six meters wide, but extend up to twenty meters in from the street.


Lucky as to meet geiko on the street.

Geiko and maiko.

Gion Shirakawa.

Shirakawa canal.

Beautiful leaves at Shirakawa canal.

Houses along Gion Shirakawa.

Busy place with tourist.

Photo with a couple having wedding here.

Houses along Shirakawa canal.

Clean and beautiful canal of Shirakawa.

Me at Shirakawa canal.

Interesting shop.

This restaurant display their menu using huge sign board outside their restaurant.

Kamo river.

GPS/Coordinate: 35.005432, 135.773129
Public transport: Gion can be reached from Kyoto Station by bus number 100 or 206 (20 minutes, 230 yen). Get off at Gion bus stop. Alternatively, the closest train stations are Gion Shijo Station on the Keihan Line or Kawaramachi Station on the Hankyu Line.

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