Komanryo and Pinterest
I’m sure the title of this post is a bit confusing right now, but all will be clear if you read on. Promise!
Who is Komanryo?
If you know of my book Geisha & Maiko of Kyoto: Beauty, Art, & Dance (Schiffer Publishing, 2009), you will recognize this portrait of the very young maiko Komanryo of Gion Kobu.
Komanryo, whose real name was Onaka Suga, was a maiko, geiko, and the second owner of the tea house Onaka, which was founded by her birth mother, Onaka Naka, in 1935. Onaka Naka’s geimei (geisha name) was Kotaro.
I was given a photo album with photos of Komanryo to use in Geisha & Maiko of Kyoto by Onaka’s third proprietress, Toyoda Hideko, who still helps to run Onaka today but has passed on the main duties to her birth daughter, Kyoko.
Kyoko was actually adopted by Onaka Suga to become the successor to Onaka, but Hideko ran Onaka for about 20 years, starting in the 1990s.
I was mesmerized by the photographs of Komanryo I was given, and I had many questions. Unfortunately, Hideko-san could not tell me much since all the photos were made decades before she became involved with running Onaka.
Here is what I do know. Komanryo was born in 1920 and had her misedashi when she was 10 years old, which was quite common at that time. I believe this portrait must have been made when Komanryo was 12 or 13 years old, in 1932 or 33.
Why? Well, if you have the book (or check this pin I’ve made on Pinterest), you will see a photo of Komanryo where she looks even younger than this. She must have been either 10 or 11 in that photo, and she just looks a bit more mature here.
If you look closely, you will notice that Komanryo’s upper lip is not painted. However, the tradition involving painting the upper lip must have changed over the decades.
I have photos of Komanryo when she is a young woman, most likely 18 or 20 years old, and her upper lip is not painted in any of them. Today, of course, only a maiko in her first year or so keeps her upper lip unpainted.
One other thing I can tell you about Komanryo/Onaka Suga is that she was a survivor. All the ochaya in Gion Kobu were closed during World War 2, but Suga reopened Onaka in October of 1948, and it has been open ever since.
Suga died at the age of 72 in 1992. As I said, she was born in 1920, so 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of her birth. I am happy to commemorate the anniversary of her birth here. Suga is gone, but I know she has certainly not been forgotten at Onaka.
What’s This Got to Do with Pinterest?
I titled this post Komanryo and Pinterest for a reason, and that reason is that if it hadn’t been for Pinterest, I wouldn’t have had the idea to write this post.
Why not? Since I am a photographer, it just never occurred to me to post a photograph I did not create myself here on my blog. In fact, in the 9 years I have been writing this blog, only 1 post (Geisha, Maiko, and Pizza!) has not featured one of my own images.
I’m not a big user of social media, but Squarespace makes it so easy to pin to Pinterest from my website and blog that I figured I’d give it a try. Although I have pinned many images from my site and blog, I didn’t want to just reproduce what I have here on Pinterest.
So, I’ve been pinning images from my books and archives to Pinterest that you won’t find here. And that’s the connection between Komanryo and Pinterest.
When I made a board for Geisha & Maiko of Kyoto, I included images of Satomi, Kimina, Yukako, and Makiko. Why not Komanryo? She is featured in the book, too. And I don’t think you’ll find images of her anywhere else, either!
If you like, you can follow me on Pinterest by clicking anywhere on this sentence. I usually post 3 times a week, on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
I hope you are staying safe, and I’ll see you next month!