午夜剧场

I have lived a life with no connection to the world of geisha. One could say it is because I have lived as a lone wolf writer and never had the opportunity, or perhaps because I held the assumption that "ozashiki (banquet) entertainment is a luxury permitted only to a very small, select group of refined connoisseurs."

In my late 50s, I lived in Niigata City for three years due to family circumstances and was blessed with various new encounters. Looking back, almost all the important people I met in Niigata were connected by the bonds of the Furumachi geisha world. Quite naturally, I was invited behind the scenes of the Furumachi geisha world and was fortunate enough to observe their way of life from a close distance.

"Geigi culture is a comprehensive art of Japanese tradition," told me Iwao Hafuku, the mastermind who made the deliciousness of Niigata's local sake known nationwide. It is not a world of romance alone.

"In a banquet room of traditional Japanese architecture, looking out at a Japanese garden, enjoying the songs and dances of geigi while savoring top-quality sake and Japanese cuisine with companions." Indeed, when sitting in such a room, the crystals of Japanese harmony that have been lost from modern daily life are concentrated there.

The Ichiyama School of Japanese dance, which has been based in Niigata since the Edo period, continues to instruct Furumachi geigi, preserving good old traditions. On the other hand, when young women wanting to become geigi had long since ceased to appear, the Niigata business community, fearing the disappearance of the Furumachi geisha world, established a company called Ryuto Shinko Co., Ltd. with 80 companies more than 30 years ago to recruit and train geigi, creating a modern organization. Witnessing this and being deeply impressed, I serialized "The Story of Furumachi Geigi" in the local newspaper, the Niigata Nippo. Those articles were compiled into the book "The Story of Ryuto Niigata Furumachi Geigi." I also met with the senior geigi who became geigi during the era of okiya (geisha houses) before the company was formed and are still active today. Ms. Ohmi, who was the model for Tetsuo Miura's novel "Hot Snow," also shared precious anecdotes with me. I listened to the inner thoughts of all 14 active geigi raised by Ryuto Shinko. Furthermore, I was moved by the passionate feelings and ways of life of the successors of the ryotei (traditional restaurants) and the supporters who back them. This book is structured so that each two-page spread forms one story. I would be happy if you could read it as if savoring a collection of short stories. And I would be even happier if you would invite your wife, husband, family, or friends to visit the geigi in Furumachi, Niigata.

Nobuya Kobayashi (Author)

Diamond, Inc.

280 pages, 1,600 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are those at the time of publication.