A Review of Kagirohi - Sakura Kyo Tayu
THAT’S TAKASAGO TAYU!
Recently I found myself down a social media rabbit hole when an image stopped me. It was a black and white portrait of Takasago Tayu holding an umbrella. It looked like it came from the 1960s or 70s.
“That’s Takasago Tayu,” I thought to myself. Takasago Tayu is the woman who trained Kikugawa Tayu, who I wrote about last month. I know her as Moto-Takasago Tayu (the former Takasago Tayu) or simply okasan (mother). I had seen a few photos of her glory days, but not this one.
Fortunately, the name of the photographer, Toshio Enomoto, was next to the photograph. I googled his name and found this book a few clicks later. There seemed to be several photos of Takasago Tayu in it, so I decided to purchase it right away even though I am not a big fan of black-and-white photography.
I’m very glad I did, and I thought you might be interested in it, too.
The Title
Kagirohi can be translated as “heat haze,” but a definition I found states that it is “a shimmering in the air that distorts distant views.” I think “Shimmering in the Air” fits the book better than “Heat Haze.” There is a luminescent quality to many of the photographs (like the cherry blossoms on the front and back cover you see above) that makes Kagirohi an apt title.
The book is subtitled Sakura Kyo Tayu or Cherry Blossoms, Kyoto, and Tayu. The book has 98 photos in total and they are divided into these three categories. The first section features cherry blossoms, the second has images of Kyoto (both landscapes and portraits), and the third is devoted to tayu, mainly Takasago Tayu and her kamuro (child attendants).
Sakura
As I said, I am not a fan of black-and-white photography. And I don’t like cherry blossoms much, either! I rarely photograph them, and when I do, it would never be in black and white.
So, it came as a great surprise to me when I found myself enjoying Enomoto’s photographs of them. His images made me see cherry blossoms in a new way, which is the highest compliment I can give a photographer.
I especially like the images of the trees reflected in water with the bright sun beaming off the surface. There is an abstract quality to many of the images that raise them above the work of other photographers I have seen.
Kyo
When I came to the section Kyo (for Kyoto, but there are a few images from other parts of Japan in this section as well), I felt that I had found a kindred spirit.
There is an image of a streetcar moving through cherry trees which looks like it was made very near my apartment. I pass the spot almost every day on my morning walk, and in a few weeks I will see photographers there every morning waiting for a streetcar to pass.
There are two photographs, one of a performer from Gion Matsuri and another of shadows on a temple wall, that are similar to photographs I have made myself.
There are also photographs of famous places such as Kinkaku-ji (the Golden Pavilion) and Sumiya (the only surviving ageha in Shimabara), but they are Enomoto’s take on them. They don’t look like every other photograph you see of them.
Tayu
I bought Kagirohi mainly for the final section, Tayu. It begins with portraits of Takasago having her hair done and sitting before her mirror.
Again, I felt an eerie connection. I photographed Kikugawa Tayu having her hair done and later applying her makeup and getting dressed, decades after Enomoto-san photographed Takasago Tayu.
There are also images of Takasago Tayu inside and outside Wachigaya, the last teahouse in Shimabara. Most curiously of all there is an image of a geisha bowing to Takasago-san. In the back of the book, the title of this photo is “New Year ceremony, Kabu Renshujo Theater, Shimabara, 1983.”
Was there a ceremony in Shimabara similar to Shigyoshiki, which is still held in all the hanamachi today? Did maiko and geiko attend along with tayu?
I don’t know the answers, but I wish I did.
And that is my only minor quibble with Kagirohi. The photos in the Sakura and Kyo sections don’t need any context; they stand on their own. I wish I knew more about what was happening in the photographs in the Tayu section, though.
I asked Takasago Tayu a few times if she would let me interview her, but she always said no. I would have very much liked to know what being a tayu was like in the 1980s. I have some feeling from the photographs here, but I would have liked to know more!
Final thoughts
If you are a fan of photography and Kyoto (as you probably are if you are reading this), I recommend Kagirohi most heartily. The book was published in 2009 (the same year as my Geisha & Maiko of Kyoto: Beauty, Art, & Dance), so I can’t believe I never heard of it before now.
I think it deserves more attention, and I hope I have brought a little with this post.
It can be purchased at Amazon.co.jp and Shashasha, a well-known online photobook store here in Japan.
Enjoy!