Book: Memoirs of a Geisha and Miyako Odori - 都をどり｜祇園甲部歌舞会

In 1997 Arthur Golden published a bestselling book, Memoirs of a Geisha. The book attracts me not because it transports the readers to a different time and magical foreign land, Kyoto Japan. It is because the scenes in the books actually match the street and life style in Kyoto. That recollected my memory of the Japan's old capital Kyoto, where I had spent for a little while in the early 1990s. The story of Memoirs of a Geisha, as suggested by the title, is a memoir of a geisha, but is written by a Westerner! Then a few years later, I found there are books written about geisha and written by geishas appearing to the book pubishing market, such as, Geisha of a Gion, which is written by a geisha named Mineko Iwasaki in 2003 and A Geisha's Journey: My Life as a Kyoto Apprentice by Naoyuki Ogino in 2008. If you like those books, you might want to read John Gallagher's Geisha: A Unique Qorld of Traition, Elegance and Art (2008). 

I found all those book are very fascinating because readers are taken to peek into the geisha's world of tradition, and as well the Japanese traditional art and culture.

April is the month of Miyako Odori festival in Kyoto. What is Miyako Odori? The Miyako Odori is also called “Dances of the Old Capital.” It is a series of dances performed in Kyoto, Japan every year in the month of April. These dances depict traditional Japanese art and culture. Along with dances, the Miyako Odori also features displays of Japanese art, such as paintings, historic kimono, and flower arrangements, along with formal performances of the tea ceremony and Japanese music, etc.

http://www.miyako-odori.jp/miyakoodori/english.html
http://www.miyako-odori.jp/