大阪南地 大和屋政哉

About this photo

From the 1903 (Meiji 36) photo album Kyoto Osaka Imayo Bijin Fuzoku (Beauties of Today in Kyoto and Osaka), this photo shows her holding an open fan in front of her chest. Her body twists as if she is turning to look back, and her kimono is scattered all over with small flowers. A large, tied obi juts out at her back, and several kanzashi (hair ornaments) with flowers and dangling decorations are set in her hair. The name under the photo reads "Osaka Nanchi, Yamatoya Masaya."

The dance performed in Osaka's geisha districts has been kamigata-mai. It was originally danced in banquet rooms (zashiki), and to set it apart from the dance of Edo kabuki, it came to be called kamigata-mai (dance of Kamigata, the Kyoto and Osaka region) or zashiki-mai (banquet-room dance). Four schools in particular, Yamamura, Umemoto, Inoue and Yoshimura, are called the "four schools of Kamigata." The Yamamura school was founded in the late Edo period by Yamamura Tomogoro, a kabuki choreographer in Osaka, and flourished as a pastime for girls of the geisha districts and merchant families. The Yoshimura school was founded early in the Meiji era by Yoshimura Fuji in Soemoncho, Nanchi.

Glossary