北新地 銀杏席房龍

About this photo

A kimono with a dark ground and a pattern of large flowers and plants. Below her chest, a cloth with fine stripes hangs diagonally, and her hands are folded in front of her as if wrapping something small. On one side of her hair is a kanzashi (hair ornament) with dangling decorations. The name under the photo reads "Kitashinchi, Ichoseki Fusaryu."

In the photo album Kyoto Osaka Imayo Bijin Fuzoku (Beauties of Today in Kyoto and Osaka, 1903), words such as "Ichoseki," which seem to be the names of houses, are added before the women's names. Osaka's geisha districts had a system called okurikomi, in which geiko (geisha) went out from their okiya (geisha houses, in the Kansai region also called yakata) to the ochaya (teahouses) or kashiseki (rented party rooms) where customers were entertained. According to a history of the district compiled by an association of Kitashinchi restaurants, in 1918 (Taisho 7) Kitashinchi had 11 okiya, 153 kashiseki and 825 geiko. Whether the "seki" in "Ichoseki" has anything to do with these kashiseki is not known. The reading of the name is our best guess.

Glossary