Photography in Gion Kobu: A Different Perspective
As most people interested in the world of geiko and maiko already know, photography was allegedly banned in Gion Kobu one month ago, on October 25.
Why the Apparent Ban?
Since then, the story has been picked up by news services and websites around the world. Most of them were written by people with little firsthand knowledge of the situation.
One I did find to be accurate was from The Asahi Shimbun. Click on this sentence and you can read it for yourself! I think the writer overuses adjectives in the first sentence, but other than that, the article does contain the basic facts. We all remember facts, don’t we?
This issue of tourism in Gion Kobu and elsewhere in Kyoto is a very complicated one, and I believe it has to be looked at from many different perspectives. The best place to begin is with a simple question.
Why?
Why the signs (and headlines), “No photography on private road” and “Fine up to 10,000 yen without photo permit”?
Today I’m going to give my own perspective as someone who occasionally works in Gion Kobu and a little of the perspective of people who live and work in Gion Kobu (my friends, who own a tea house not far from Hanami-koji, the main street of Gion Kobu).
I am usually in Gion Kobu to photograph geiko and maiko inside a tea house (with permission, of course!), but I’m not going to be writing as a photographer today. I also work as a liason, organizer, and guide for groups of tourists who want to experience the authentic entertainment of geiko and maiko inside a tea house.
As luck would have it, I was working in Gion Kobu within days of the ban, on October 30, November 2, and November 4. This is what I experienced on those days.
An Evening with No Tourists?
On October 30, I was bringing a group of 5 to the “home bar” of my friends’ tea house. I walked from the tea house to a nearby Starbuck’s to meet the group at about 9:30 p.m., and I felt that I had been transported back in time about 15 years, to when I was a street photographer in Gion Kobu.
Back then, after 9:00 p.m., I was usually the only person on the street besides the food delivery men and other restaurant workers. I loved those evenings. It was so quiet and peaceful I could hear the sound of a maiko’s clogs on the pavement from several blocks away.
For the past several years, even late in the evening, the streets of Gion always seem to have at least a few tourists strolling about, and sometimes more than a few.
However, on this night, the side streets of Gion Kobu were completely empty and blissfully silent once again. I was the only person around. “Wow, the ban must really be having an effect!” I thought.
A week later, I told my friend at the tea house about that night and asked him if the ban had scared the tourists away. “I don’t think so,” he told me. “It’s still quiet in the evenings here sometimes. And some nights there are a lot of people around.”
Tourists and Gridlock
My second experience was not as positive. A few days later, I was in the zashiki (the room where geiko and maiko entertain their guests) with a geiko, a maiko, and 13 guests.
I looked down at my watch. 11:25 a.m.! Perfect! I had been worried about the time because the group I was with had to be at a temple in the southern part of Kyoto by noon sharp. We were right on schedule!
I called the driver of our mini-van to let him know we were getting ready to leave.
I let the geiko and maiko lead the group down the stairs and out to the street. People love to take photos with the maiko and geiko out in the sunlight. It’s a bit dark in the zashiki, even in the morning!
Once we are on the street, my tourist radar is on high alert. I’m worried that the toursits on Hanami-koji will spot the geiko and maiko with my group and come running. But I’m there, and the okamisan (the owner of the tea house) is there, so I’m not too concerned.
The group and the geiko and maiko are talking and laughing. Great! I’m answering questions. Out of the corner of my eye I see tourists coming towards us… Most of the tourists stayed at a respectful distance. One woman did try to get close to the maiko, but the maiko was surrounded by members of my group and the tourist gave up and backed off.
I saw our mini-van coming down the street. And that’s when things started to get dicey. My group was on the right side of the street, in front of the tea house, waiting to be picked up. The group of tourists who had gathered (15 or 20?) was on the left side of the street, still watching.
A car was coming down the street. Our mini-van was coming up the street. With all the people, 2 vehicles, and a very narrow street, we suddenly had gridlock.
The car tried to back up, but couldn’t. The tourists were right behind it. Our van had to back up instead. And the dance of cars began!
All I could think was, “We’re going to be late! And it’s all their (the watching tourists) fault!” Right then, I would have been happy if all the security guards who are apparently patrolling Gion Kobu now would have come along and cleared the tourists on the street away.
Sadly, no cavalry arrived. I talked to my group, they moved back, the car moved forward, and we were finally able to get into the van and be on our way. And we did make it to the temple with five minutes to spare!
Looking back at the situation with a more detached eye now, I see that my knee-jerk reaction in the moment was to blame the watching tourists. They were an easy target, and every knows these “boorish” and “obnoxious” tourists (to quote the Asahi Shimbun story I linked to above) must always be to blame, right?
Right?
No, not completely. None of them were rude or aggressive. They were just curious and wanted to see a maiko or geiko, and this was probably their best chance. I get that. I understand it. I was once that person, just hoping for a glimpse of a geiko or maiko.
But there is a difference. I made many mistakes when I was a street photographer from 2002 - 2006, but one I never made was getting in the way of someone who was working in Gion Kobu, whether that person was a taxi driver or a food delivery person or whoever.
Whenever they came near me, I got out of the way. I was a visitor, but they were working. They needed to be there. I did not. I always stayed very aware of what was happening around me.
Some Friendly Advice for Toursists in Gion Kobu Now
Tourists today need to do the same. Especially tourists today, when there is so much frustration and hostility with the way some tourists are behaving.
Be aware of what’s happening around you and don’t get in the way.
The tourists across the street from my group probably didn’t realize it, but they were standing right in front of a restaurant, blocking the entrance. It was almost noon at the time. How do you think the owners of the restaurant felt seeing a group of tourists blocking the door just as lunch hour is about to start?
How would you feel?
One of the biggest concerns for the people living and working in Gion is that large groups of tourists make it hard for them just to go about their business.
For instance, the wife of my friend at the tea house told me that the same tour guide comes and stops in front of their tea house every day in the morning.
Every day. They don’t recognize the language, but they recognize the tone so well by now that they know who it is. I asked my friend about this, and he said, “Yes, it makes it difficult for the delivery men.”
What this tour guide might not know is that mornings (from 10:00 a.m. on) are the time for food deliveries in the area. Restaurants get their produce and other food delivered at this time, and the vans park for a few minutes in front of the restaurants.
Deliveries are made in the morning to avoid the crowds that used to come in the afternoons and evenings, but now those crowds are coming in the morning, too.
These are just a few reasons why the message was sent to tourists on October 25. I hope they are listening. From what I have seen personally and what my friends from the area are telling me, some are.
Many are not!
I’ll tackle this topic from a different perspective next month, or early in the New Year. As always, your questions and comments are welcome!
