Way back when, as a slip of a lad, when I first hoisted my cameras onto my shoulders and strode out to make my way in this freelance photography world I never thought I’d end up doing numerous assignments with geisha women in Japan. It would have seemed incredible, the dream reportage assignment, all my Christmases come at once. And now a few years down the line, and having worked solidly as an assignment editorial photographer, here in Tokyo, Japan, I’ve had a few hours in the company of geisha and maiko (apprentice geisha) for a few publications. The latest is below, a 4 page spread, not the greatest of layouts, but they all count I feel.
These images come from an afternoon in Shimoda, a hot spring town on Izu peninsula, south west of Tokyo, and historically important as the site where Commodore Perry and his ‘black ships’ arrived from the USA in 1854 to try and open up Japan to international trade. The geisha tradition in Shimoda has been declining in recent times, as it has everywhere, and the town council decided to advertise for three women to train as geisha. They will “debut” one week from now at a local festival, and after that they, it is hoped, they will be an attraction for tourists to visit the town and help to revive the tourist industry there.
The assignment was brief, no National Geographic living in a geisha tea house for 3 months, oh no (see the photographs of geisha by National Geographic photographer Jodi Cobb). This was a quick couple of hours late in the afternoon, but none the less it was welcome, and enough. Just think what you could do with a few days or weeks ? But hey ho, you work within the assignment you have in hand. It could have been much worse, they might not have been very obliging… Firstly, as it was already mid afternoon and I worried about the light, I suggested a walk for the women as a way to get some variety of images, some shots of them on Perry Road, the road where the Commodore once walked with his delegation to be received by the then local officials. A few frames by the stream, a few in the temple grounds with the afternoon light and autumn leaves. And then back to the tea house where they train.
Iroha, a maiko, practices her dancing, watched by her teachers, in Shimoda, Japan. ©Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert 2011, All rights reserved. I’m sure the geisha world will hate that image, the way Iroha’s kimono splays open at the front to show the lining inside. Click here to see the full set of photographs of maiko / geisha from Shimoda, Japan.
In the tea house I chose the most Japanese looking of two rooms I was offered as a location for the shots. The windows were large, and overhead a large but soft light source hung from the ceiling, thankfully there was enough light as the afternoon faded (as as long as I cropped the overhead modern and ugly light out of my frames it’d be ok). Myself and journalist Justin McCurry were treated to some performances of the women, in all their kimono finery, practicing their dancing, their shamisen playing and singing. Some, as they were the first to admit, need more practice than others. But to me, all the way from Scotland, it all looked and sounded magical, a step back into another world and time. Moments like that I sometimes laugh quietly to myself, once again feeling incredibly fortunate for the opportunities my profession offers me.
The photographs of the Shimoda geisha first ran as a slideshow, with and article and audio recorded by Justin McCurry, on Global Post. The above article is also by Justin.
Click here to see the full set of photographs of maiko / geisha from Shimoda, Japan.
