How Japan's Azuma Odori, 100-year-old geisha festival, offers glimpses of dying tradition

South China Morning Post

25-05-2025

The geishas glide with measured steps across a wooden stage, offering a glimpse of a long-misunderstood tradition that is becoming a rare sight in Japan.
Dancing with paper fans and
dressed in kimonos , the entertainers were rehearsing without the striking white make-up and sculpted hairstyles they are famous for.
But for seven days until May 27, the women will perform in full splendour at the 100-year-old Azuma Odori festival at a theatre in the heart of the Japanese capital, Tokyo.
In the popular imagination,
geishas are often confused with courtesans , but in fact their work – as trained masters of refined old art forms – does not involve selling sex.
Geishas rehearsing before the 100th edition of the Azuma Odori festival at the Shinbashi Enbujo Theatre in Tokyo. Photo: AFP
Geishas rehearsing before the 100th edition of the Azuma Odori festival. Geishas are a rare sight in modern Japan. Photo: AFP
'Japanese people themselves often don't understand or have the wrong idea about what geishas do,' Hisafumi Iwashita, a writer specialised in geisha culture, says.