But when our friends, Chiaki and Sanae, asked us if we wanted to do it and assured us that it wasn't being insulting, and in fact that they wanted to do it with us, we said sure, let's try.
Our original reason to go to Kyoto that day was to see the "Daimonji" fire on the mountain festival. A one day event where they light large kanji characters in fire on the moutains surrounding the city. Sounds fun. And there were (and are) a lot of sights in Kyoto we hadn't seen yet, so we decided to go sightseeing as well. But we decided to start our day by going to one of many photography studios scattered around Kyoto. These places speciaize in Geisha photos. You can choose to dress as a Geisha, a Maiko (the more colorful Geisha in training, usually under 20 years of age) or in some cases a Samurai. Guess which one Carl chose. The girls and I chose to dress as Maikos (no age cracks from the peanut gallery) (PS, speaking of age, my birthday is only a couple of weeks after I return home...).
You can also add options to the studio photography package, such as rickshaw rides, or wandering outside in costume (no eating and drinking in costume please) and group photos. We added the 'walk in historic Kyoto dressed as a Maiko option,' never imagining what that would entail...
We got to the studio around 11 am, and the tempurature was already in the low 30s. We were hot and sweaty from the short walk to the studio. Inside the elegant, and crowded, air conditioned studio the girls and I were whisked into a locker room and given tabi (like mitten socks), cotton shifts and a bucket for any personal goods we wanted to keep with us through the experience. As I stripped in the change room, I found myself contemplating just how uncomfortably often I've been undressed in front of others in this country. You'd think I would learn to shave my legs more often.
Once changed we walked up 2 flights of narrow stairs to the make-up studio. With our hair safely in a net they started to literally paint on the make-up. The heavy white liquid base went on with a wide paintbrush on the face and down the neck and back, and was then powdered and patted into our skin, followed by a light pink glaze on the cheeks. They then put a red base on under areas that would be black later, like the eyebrows and lining the eyes. Heavy liquid liner and red stain painted on the lips and we were done! Now downstairs to choose a kimono.
The kimonos were all so pretty, I really couldn't choose one I liked best. We decided on a traditional design for me and some really lovely designs for the girls. Then into the next room where we stood in front of a mirror and let our dresser swaddle us in clothes. First came the 2 two towels around the waist and the underarm and neck padding. The some light bondage around the chest and hips. They kept warning us to brace ourselves, as it was going to be tight. Fairly soon I couldn't take a full breath and found that I had to take mincing little steps to walk anywhere. It was like a corset that started at the breasts and went down to the hips. Then the underskirt went on and then the kimono. Finally we chose an obi (waist sash) which was bound tightly on top of the other binding and added a bustle to the back. After that the wig went on and the transformation was complete. I felt like a pretty, pretty princess. A very pale, strange Asian-Caucasian princess.
Now you may be wondering what Carl was doing all this time. They didn't have a men's dressing room, just a lonely washroom on the second floor for him. As we were choosing kimonos we were also peaking into the dressing room to giggle at Carl in his tight cotton undergarment as they dressed him in his samurai (or as he said, Jedi) robes. No make-up or wig for him. And he claimed his robes were extremely roomy and comfortable. Nope, I'm not jealous. As we were getting changed he was in the studio striking poses.
Soon we joined him in the studio and were quickly run through a set of poses. This place was working like a well-oiled machine, clients moving quickly through each room the entire time we were there. Then we threw a small wrench in the works by asking for a group photo. But it was worth it. You'd never know Carl's ankle was killing him by the look on his face, would you? Wait...what is that look on his face?
Then it was time for the outdoor portion of the show. We were given a map attached to tiny purses and geta (raised wooden sandals) and ushered outside. If I could barely walk in the kimono before the geta made it official. The sandals are raised in the middle but slope at the front, constantly threatening to pitch you forward onto your face. Sanae's husband was waiting outside for us, and with him and our blond samurai as an escort we walked into the streets of Kyoto.
We instantly stopped traffic. EVERYONE stopped to turn and stare. Wailing children stopped crying, grandfathers dropped their canes, people's jaws dropped, and then everyone reached for their cameras.
Tourists asked if we would pose with them, grandmothers stopped us to say "You are so beautiful" or whisper "kirei" (beautiful) as we passed. If we stopped to take our own photos there were half a dozen people behind our photographers angling for pictures. We felt like rock stars. Hot, sweaty rock stars.
Maybe wandering historic Kyoto in several layers of clothing on a sweltering summer day wasn't the best idea. Soon our wigs began to dig in to our scalps as the sweat beaded on our make-up. We were allowed to wander for an hour but we came back after 40 minutes. I think that it was worth it though. I've been stared at on the streets in make-up and costume before, but nothing could have prepared me for that.
We quickly ran through the process in reverse and then huddled in front of sinks in the change room to remove the make-up. Baby oil, tissue, repeat, baby oil tissue repeat, for half an hour. We formed a little chain to do each others backs. (No, we didn't take any pictures of that part, stop asking.) And finally returned to our normal selves. We collected our photos from the desk and returned to Kyoto, no longer rock stars.
The rest of the day was wonderful too. We saw some fabulous shrines and temples and then shouldered our way through the thronging streets to see huge fire kanji characters and boats and torii appear on the mountains of Kyoto. We declined climbing said mountains in the dark to get a better view and settled for walking the well-lit but very crowded streets.
To see the pictures from this fun and fabulous day click here.
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