Always Honeymoon ([info]alwayshoneymoon) wrote,
@ 2004-01-11 21:55:00
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Kyoto, pt. 2
By the way, I haven't color-corrected these or anything yet. The final gallery will have that.



On the walk to the famed-in-poetry Kiyomizu temple, we went through narrow streets full of all kinds of shops. One was devoted entirely to cute cat stuff, complete with photos of customers' cats. (I should send Bianca one of Miss Kitty to give the owner.) He showed us photos of his own cute Persians. Aw.

After we were done with the amazing Kiyomizu complex, we stopped for inexpensive udon noodles. Later we noticed that the platform we'd been sitting on was built on stilts over a cliff.



Obligatory Kyoto-Gion geisha photo. But there's a really good chance that these are just tourists dressed up.



The approach to Fushimi Inari shrine, marked by its statues of fox-spirits. It's really crowded because of New Year, but it turned out to be worth it.




One of the small shrines inside the complex.



Votives. Fushimi Inari doesn't photograph very well at night with my equipment, but it was really an amazing sight.



Little girl dressed up in her New Year's outfit. (Yes, we asked permission.)



Young women in kimono. They were very pleased to have their photos taken. The fur/feather stoles seem to date to the 1920s and are a now-traditional part of the New Year's ensemble.

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[info]lometa
2004-01-11 07:17 am UTC (link)

You have a great eye for color and detail. I’m curious. What do you think the young girls in kimonos meant by holding up their fingers in a V?
World War II vets used it as V for victory and the 60’s generation adopted it as a peace sign. I think the gang bangers have adopted it now but have no idea what it means.
Does it mean something else in Japan?

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[info]alwayshoneymoon
2004-01-11 07:22 am UTC (link)
It's the common cutesy thing to do for photos in Japan. I have yet to get a firm definition of what it stands for, if anything. ;)

And thank you. =) I haven't been taking photos very long and I'm trying to get better. When I get all the photos together, I'll have a "Photos I Like" section in addition to a "Photos that are interesting to my friends and family."

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[info]serennig
2004-01-11 05:21 pm UTC (link)
You might get a better answer, but when I was in Japan and asked why everyone did that, the answer was, "you just do. why do you say cheese for photos?"

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saying cheese
(Anonymous)
2008-07-06 01:44 am UTC (link)
We say "cheese" because it makes the mouth into a smile, and everyone looking at the camera knows that all the other people are smiling too. So, back to the "V" -- why do Japanese do it? They tell me it's the peace sign.

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[info]mactavish
2004-01-19 08:27 pm UTC (link)
I love the fox spirits. They look like DJ! Where can I find more information about them?

That photo of you two with the noodles is good. :) On my honeymoon, my spouse and I ended up with maybe one or two pics of both of us at the same time, as one or the other of us always had the camera.

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[info]alwayshoneymoon
2004-01-19 08:41 pm UTC (link)
Hey, they do. That's funny.

This page is pretty good and should give you some search terms for google:

http://academia.issendai.com/fox-japanese.shtml

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[info]mactavish
2004-01-19 08:55 pm UTC (link)
Thanks! I shouldn't be surprised that when I google around, there are lots of furry-related and anime-related links. :)

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[info]alwayshoneymoon
2004-01-19 09:06 pm UTC (link)
Ehheh ... yeah.

Kij Johnson's novel _Fox Woman_ is about kitsune. I think Marion Zimmer Bradley wrote one too.

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[info]robotazalea
2004-01-20 10:05 am UTC (link)
Aa, natsukashii!

The real geisha and maiko don't appear until the early evening. So if you see some "geisha" clomping around Kiyomizu-dera in the afternoon, snapping their gum and tripping over their ill-fitting geta, they're probably tourists. My guess is that the two girls in the picture are tourists dressed as maiko, because the one behind seems to be straining the hem of her kimono with an indelicately wide step. ^^

When my friends and I went to Gion, the okiya sent down some maiko first, and while the photographers mobbed them, the real geisha quietly left by taxi. ^^ The maiko were accompanied by even younger girls who wore clean, contemporary youfuku. Their hair was simply styled in two braids and they had no makeup on. These girls addressed the maiko as oneesama. I wondered whether they were apprentice-apprentice geisha.

Mmm, udon. Did you go as far south as Shikoku? The best udon in Japan is Sanuki udon from Kagawa.

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[info]alwayshoneymoon
2004-01-20 11:36 am UTC (link)
Yeah, I thought her stride seemed a little wide! Also, I suspect that the guy to the right, whom I've mostly cropped from the photo, is the Tourist Handler for them.

I bet the girls were apprentince-apprentice geisha. I'm sure there's a step before maiko; I just don't remember what it is.

We didn't get to Shikoku. Next time we want to explore more, and actually spend more time in Tokyo (we expected to hate Tokyo, but *sigh* there actually are things to see there besides Giant Cityness). And some day we really want to see Hokkaido.

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[info]kijjohnson
2004-02-08 01:32 pm UTC (link)
I'm guesing the maiko were tourists, too, because they're stepping out wrong for trained kimono-wearers. Geisha typically walked pigeon,toed, because it makes the kimono sway more gracefully.

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[info]alwayshoneymoon
2004-02-08 01:47 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, I figured as much, but the kimono are pretty anyway. *G*

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Re:
[info]kijjohnson
2004-02-08 02:12 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, who cares?

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