♪♪ [ Traditional Japanese music plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Indistinct chatter, woman speaking over intercom ] [ Soft music plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ My name is Tomitsuyu, and I'm working as a geiko-san in Kyoto.

And we perform traditional arts in private parties or big stages -- public performances -- and make a living out of performing.

♪♪ We do perform Japanese traditional dancing, tea ceremony, bamboo flute, and some kind of drums -- Japanese traditional drums.

And I sing.

♪♪ ♪♪ Geiko-san is separated into two different groups -- Tachikata and jikata.

Tachikata is a dancer.

Jikata is a musician.

And because I am tachikata, I perform dancing on the stage.

So it's very strongly connected to my geiko life.

[ Laughs ] ♪♪ Most of the songs are played by shamisen -- three-strings Japanese guitar.

And the strings are made out of silk.

[ Shamisen plays ] Most of the songs are about seasons.

[ Singing in Japanese ] ♪♪ I was born in Kyoto, and many of my family members are working for kimono industry.

So since when I was little, I really loved wearing kimono, and naturally I got interested in Japanese tradition.

♪♪ The tradition started maybe over 300 years ago.

So I think it's very important to keep it going.

♪♪ There's a big shrine called Yasaka Shrine, and in front of that shrine, there were many tea houses, maybe like a cafe.

And women who were working in those tea houses started to perform and dancing or instrument and singing for the guests, for those who have tea in that particular cafe, and that's the origin of geiko-san.

♪♪ 300 years ago, there was no electricity, only candlelight.

The room was much darker, so to look beautiful in the darkness, the girls started to put the white makeup on.

And for the makeup, I do it by myself, and it takes about 40 minutes.

And I can only use three colors -- white, red, and black.

Red -- meant to make the bad spirits go away.

It's a saint color.

Flower.

Or like sake -- sake bottle.

And sake cup and drink.

Most of Japanese like dancing movements based on the lyrics and when it says something about the moon, we look at the moon.

So eye -- we don't look at the audience.

When the lyrics is telling about, for example, a flower, I look down at the flower.

Not just hands or body movement.

The eye contact, eye movements, are very important.

[ Singing in Japanese ] ♪♪ Especially in the dancing, we need to put our fingers, like, closed for the women's dancing, and in tea ceremony, it's also very important to close our hand 'cause it looks more elegant.

♪♪ ♪♪ We need to bend our knees like this.

So when I walk, I walk like this.

But ballet, they go tiptoes.

But it's opposite.

[ Laughs ] I started the training -- hmm, eight?

Eight years ago.

I started from dancing and tea ceremony, and half a year later, I became a maiko -- apprentice of geiko-san.

When we are younger, more decorative, more bright colors.

We become older, everything becomes simpler.

So, a geiko-san wears a wig, and this is specially made just for me.

And the hair is a real human's hair.

Many girls find it too hard because we don't just dress up and perform and have normal life.

Even in our private life, we have to live in a house -- special house called okiya, like a boarding house.

They share a room together, and we have very strict hierarchy.

It's very old-fashioned Japanese style.

Very hard for the younger generation to fit into that old customs.

Everyone, like, in school was very surprised.

They know what the geiko-san or maiko-san is, but most of people -- even people in Kyoto -- have never seen a geiko-san or maiko-san.

♪♪ All of my friends thought it's such a strict world, I'm not going to make it to the debut.

So they didn't really like my decision, but when I finished my first training period and became a maiko-san, and some of my friends came to my debut ceremony, and they were really happy for me.

[ Laughs ] ♪♪ I thought of quitting many times, but many people supported me.

♪♪ Well, I just love what I'm doing, and I think that's why I could, you know, [Laughs] break the wall.

♪♪ ♪♪ [ Indistinct chatter ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Singing in Japanese ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Singing in Japanese ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Machine whirring ] ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Singing in Japanese ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Laughs ] ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Birds chirping ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Laughs ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Tomitsuyu: Many people misunderstand about maiko-san and geiko-san, but after I explain about the culture, most people understand and they respect us.

So I hope I can continue working as a geiko-san.

And I love performing on the stages, act or, like, perform as a different person.

I dress as a different person.

And I also like the traditional lifestyle that we keep from maybe 300 years ago.

[ Traditional Japanese music playing ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪