Gion, Kyoto’s Geisha District

The Gion district of Kyoto, a.k.a. the geisha district, is where you have the most chances to see a real geisha – a disappearing cultural phenomenon in Japan. Even if your chances of seeing one in the flesh here are higher there, seeing one of those mythical entertainers remain a rare occurrence. Many tourists often mistake fellow tourists dressed up as geisha for the real thing. If these false sightings become a highlight of their trip, I see no wrong in that.

The prevalence of geisha pictures on the Internet might lead you to mistakenly believe that it is easy to hunt down these nearly extinct individuals. It is not. This being said, you are most likely to be able to spot one in Gion later at night, when they tend to come out. Sadly for us, we were to come back empty handed as far as geishas went.

However, we did see many Japanese, both men and women, dressed in traditional clothing and going about their days. This, in itself, made this stop a success. As I stood there marveling at the beautiful kimonos, I really wished Japanese people had not adopted the Western garments. Why would you go for Western clothes when your traditional clothing look so dignified?

Finally, the Gion district really does come alive at night and is a pleasure to wander around. It is here that we found the birthday gift for Mister’s mother, after searching high and low in Tokyo. We found a silk banner painted with swallows in the distinctive ink strokes of Japanese art. I hear she was very happy about it and that makes me happy as well.

I loved Gion, but I almost didn’t make it here as finding the right place turned out to be quite an adventure for us. It all started when we disembarked at the wrong metro station. After quite some time wandering aimlessly, not knowing where we were going, we finally gave up and entrusted our fates to Google Maps. It became pretty straight forward from there. We did make a quick visit to Yasaka Shrine, which I appreciated quite a bit!

If you want to go to Gion-machi (which is where you might want to be), you should make your way to Shijō Station on the Keihan line.