京都祇園 加藤たま葉

About this photo

She holds an open fan near her hip and tilts her head. The pose recalls a dance form, and her face is turned to the front. Her dark kimono is scattered with white rings, and toward the right of the picture is a large flower that looks like a peony. She wears kanzashi on both sides of her hair. This portrait of a woman of Gion, Kyoto, is in the photo album Kyoto Osaka Imayo Bijin Fuzoku (Beauties of Today in Kyoto and Osaka, 1903).

In Gion Kobu, one of the hanamachi (geisha districts) of Gion, the Inoue school of Kyomai (Kyoto dance) has been handed down as its style of dance. The founder, Inoue Sato (Inoue Yachiyo I), served in the household of the Konoe family before starting the Inoue school in 1797. The second head moved the practice hall to Gion-machi, and the name Yachiyo has been passed down through the generations. In 2000 the fifth Yachiyo took the name. The reading of the name is our best guess.

Glossary