Gion

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Gion

Gion is a district of Kyoto

Kyoto

Sorry, no overview for this topic
, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
, originally developed in the Middle Ages, in front of Yasaka Shrine

Yasaka Shrine

, once called Gion Shrine, is a Shinto shrine in the Gion District of Kyoto, Japan. Situated at the east end of Shijo-dori , it was built originally in 656....
. The district was built to accommodate the needs of travelers and visitors to the shrine. It eventually evolved to become one of the most exclusive and well-known geisha districts in all of Japan.

The geisha in the Gion district do not refer to themselves as geisha

Geisha

, or are traditional, female Japanese entertainers, whose skills include performing various Japanese arts, such as classical music and dance....
; instead, Gion geisha use the local term geiko.

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Gion is a district of Kyoto

Kyoto

Sorry, no overview for this topic
, Japan

Japan

Yasaka Shrine

Geisha

, or are traditional, female Japanese entertainers, whose skills include performing various Japanese arts, such as classical music and dance....
; instead, Gion geisha use the local term geiko. While the term geisha means "artist" or "person of the arts", the more direct term geiko means essentially "a child of the arts" or "a woman of art."

This neighborhood in Kyoto has two hanamachi
Hanamachi

A hanamachi is a Japanese courtesan and geisha district. The word's literal meaning is "flower town". Such districts would contain various okiya ....
(geiko communities) : Gion Kobu and Gion Higashi. Despite the considerable decline in the number of geisha in Gion in the last one hundred years, it is still famous for the preservation of forms of traditional architecture

Japanese architecture

has a long history as any other aspect of Culture of Japan. Originally heavily influenced by Chinese architecture from the Tang Dynasty , it has also developed many differences and aspects which are indigenous to Japan....
and entertainment.

Part of this district has been declared a national historical preservation district. Recently, the City of Kyoto completed a project to restore the streets of Gion, which included such plans as moving all overhead utilities underground as part of the ongoing effort to preserve the original beauty of Gion.

Gion remains dotted with old-style Japanese houses called machiya
Machiya

are traditional wooden townhouses found throughout Japan and typified in the historical capital of Kyoto. Machiya and noka constitute the two categories of Japanese vernacular architecture known as minka ....
, which roughly translated means "townhouse", some of which are ochaya or "tea houses." These are traditional establishments where the patrons of Gion -- from the samurai of old to modern-day businessmen -- have been entertained by geiko in an exclusive manner for centuries.

Inside the ochaya is a private and closed world where the evening's entertainment may include cocktails, conversation, and games as well as traditional Japanese music, singing and dancing. To this day, geiko and maiko
Maiko

is a Japanese language word for dancing girl and is an apprentice geisha. Maiko is also a feminine Japanese given name....
in full regalia can still be seen in the evenings as they move about through the streets of Gion to and from their various engagements at the ochaya.

There is a popular misconception that Gion was a red-light district

Red-light district

A red-light district is a neighborhood where prostitution and other businesses in the sex industry flourish. The term "red-light district" was first recorded in the United States in 1894, in an article in The Sentinel, a newspaper in Milwaukee....
. It was a geisha district, and as geisha are entertainers, not prostitutes, Gion is not, and never was, a red-light district. Shimabara

Shimabara, Kyoto

Shimabara was a hanamachi in Kyoto. It was established in 1640 for a brothel owned by Hara Saburoemon, and was closed in 1958, when prostitution was outlawed in Japan....
was Kyoto's red-light district.

The geiko of Gion still maintain the annual dances, the most popular being the Miyako Odori, "Cherry Blossom Dances" or "Dances of the Old Capital", staged by the geisha of Gion Kobu. The dances run from April 1 through April 30 each year during the height of the cherry blossom (sakura

Sakura

Sakura is the Japanese language name for cherry trees, and their blossoms. In English, the word "sakura" is equivalent to the Japanese flowering cherry, and their blossoms are commonly called cherry blossoms....
) season. Spectators from Japan and worldwide attend the events, which range from "cheap" seats on tatami

Tatami

mats are a traditional type of Japanese flooring. Made of woven soft rush straw, and traditionally packed with rice straw , tatami are made in individual mats of uniform size and shape, bordered by brocade or plain cloth....
mats on the floor (approximately $15.00 U.S.), to reserved seats with a small tea ceremony

Tea ceremony

A tea ceremony is an Asian ritual form of making tea. The term generally refers to the Japanese tea ceremony. One can also refer to the whole set of rituals, tools, mudra, etc....
beforehand (approximately $40.00 U.S.).

Gion in popular culture

Gion is the setting of much of Arthur Golden
Arthur Golden

Arthur Golden is the writer of the bestselling novel Memoirs of a Geisha.A member of the Ochs-Sulzberger family , Golden was educated at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee....
's novel Memoirs of a Geisha
Memoirs of a Geisha

Memoirs of a Geisha is a novel by Arthur Golden, published in 1997. The novel, told in first-person view, tells the fictional story of a geisha working in Kyoto, Japan, before and after World War II....
.
Gion was also where Mineko Iwasaki
Mineko Iwasaki

, born , was Japan's number one geiko until her sudden retirement at the age of 29. Her story likely would have ended there, and she would have remained relatively unknown outside Japan, if not for her involvement with Arthur Golden and his book Memoirs of a Geisha....
lived and did her business as a geiko, as mentioned in her novel Geisha of Gion.
Gion is the setting of several films by Kenji Mizoguchi
Kenji Mizoguchi

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese people filmmaker and screenwriter. He is most famous for his film Ugetsu which won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and for his mastery of long take and mis-en-scene....
, including:

1936 Sisters of the Gion
Sisters of the Gion

is a film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi.The movie Sisters of the Gion was filmed in 1936 in Japan and directed by the famous Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi....
(????? Gion no kyodai)
1953 A Geisha
A Geisha

, or "Gion Festival Music", is a 1953 in film Cinema of Japan directed by Kenji Mizoguchi centred around life in post-war Gion through the relationship between an established geisha, Miyoharu, and teenaged Eiko, who pleads with Miyoharu to take her on as an apprentice, or maiko....
aka Gion Music Festival (???? Gion bayashi)

Gion has been modeled in 3D for Toshihiro Nagoshi
Toshihiro Nagoshi

is a Japanese people video game game producer and game designer for Sega. Nagoshi headed Sega AM4/Amusement Vision. He is best known as the producer and game director of the Super Monkey Ball series, excluding Super Monkey Ball Adventure....
's game Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan!.