While on my 5th visit to a Higashiyama Hanatouro we stopped to watch the Geisha dance performance. Was the first and only time so far that I've seen a Geisha dance performance. These dances are held on the stage at Yasaka-jinja (Yasaka Shrine). The two Hanatouro (Higashiyama and Arashiyama) are times when the general public gets to see and even have their photos taken with real Geisha.

Actually, it took very long time till I spotted a real Geisha in Kyoto. During my first visit to Kyoto in 1998 I took photo of two ladies who I though were Geisha. All of my Japanese friends didn't want to disappoint me and kept telling me "Oh your so lucky James to see two Geisha". To be honest some of those friends who come from other parts of Japan than Kyoto, probably didn't know the difference either. On my other website I have two photos called "Fake Meiko" and "Real Meiko", so you can learn how to spot a real Geisha or Meiko (the apprentice Geisha with more elaborate costumes). Please don't look if you are worried it might crush your memories of Kyoto!

This photo was a challenging one to capture, as it was very crowded around the stage. With the camera mounted on the tripod, I held it far above my head and and composed the shot with the flip screen facing down toward me. I used the infrared remote to trigger the shutter release.