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A Geisha’s Journey : My Life as a Kyoto Apprentice by Naoyuki Ogino

Kodansha International has published a beautiful photo book called A Geisha’s Journey, My Life as a Kyoto Apprentice. The initiative for the book was taken by young photographer Ogino Naoyuki and its subject is a Japanese teenager and later young woman called Nasu Ruriko who was born in Mexico and after that lived with her parents in China. These foreign experiences awakened her interest in her Japanese roots and everything “wa” (traditionally Japanese). She especially liked to wear kimono and wanted to be able to explain Japanese culture to others..

After reading a geiko blog on the internet she started corresponding with the writer, Koito (Takeda Ikuko), and ended up as a maiko with this “elder sister” in Miyagawacho in Kyoto. That was in 2000, when she was 15 years old – the ideal age for becoming a maiko.

As a maiko, Ruriko received the name Komomo, “Little Peach,” which really fit her as it referred to the round shape of he face… and the name of a cat she had in the past.

We join Komomo first as shikomi, then as maiko and finally see her settle down as a full-fledged geiko.

After following her for seven years with his camera, Ogino taped her story and the explanations she gave of his photos, so what we have here is a very lively and vernacular account.The photo’s have a certain grainy quality, as opposed to being flashy, which adds to the realism of the book.

Ogino and Komomo have in common that both young people followed their own dream: Komomo to become a 21st century geisha and Ogino, who graduated in physics from Nagoya University, to become a freelance photographer. Ogino provides us with a unique glimpse of a hidden, but also sadly vanishing world.