Akita Maiko have been in the spotlight for months now. At first i couldn’t quite put my finger on it: Many Maiko from all over Japan get a lot of exposure and some hanamachi have taken to almost aggressive social media usage, so what was it about the Akita girls that didn’t quite fit the mold?

The Akita Maiko Shino (who will turn her collar in October 2019), Otoha and Kanofuji got so much presence because of TikTok, a platform i don’t use and am not at all familiar with. For the sake of research i found out some very cute videos of them lip syncing and eating ice cream, all very kawaii! Some Radio station also regularly features the girls and they are really into Instagram too. The whole look and feel of these ladies is very bold. Flashy look, big smiles, modern gestures. They are a fun bunch and every post is smiles and laughter, they are ideal ambassadors of Akita. But there is also another side to the Akita kagai, a contrasting mood to the young faces of the childlike and modern Maiko. She is a willowy and elegant beauty, radiates experienced charm and her name is Wakayu.

Wakayu is one of the very few Geisha of Akita city. She debuted on May 15th 1958 as a Maiko and turned her collar in 1963, at a time when the flower and willow world was booming. She was just 15 when she entered the karyukai, two months after graduating from junior high school and her career as Geisha lasted 25 years when she retired at 40. Even during her tenure, the kagai of Akita went through some changes as the apprentices had been called Hangyoku before the war. The rebranding of their profession was a hint to the things that lay ahead.

In 2018 she was asked to return from retirement to mentor the new Maiko of Akita city, who were experiencing a makeover through the Akita Maiko company. The new Maiko were revamped, their look was adapted to a more uniform and flashy style and it’s very interesting to compare their look today to their counterparts just a few years ago. The company is trying to set up a vital hanamachi, funding the training of young girls willing to become not only Maiko, pretty and beloved, but also to graduate to Geisha status. The kagai of Akita city has just two registered Geisha at the moment: Wakayu and Someryu, a young ex-Geisha of Tokyo. They are referred to as Kawabata Geisha as the Akita Maiko are all part of a company, not an okiya.

As many long serving Geisha, Wakayu is a natural born dancer and a master of the Hanayagi school, in her youth she was considered a great beauty. In my opinion she still is.

While the Akita Maiko of today are backed by a company that “cultivates” their tradition and acts like a sponsor, Wakayu has a very different background so she is a source of knowledge and role model. She was so dedicated to keep the traditions of Akita Maiko alive and felt it her duty to come back from retirement to teach her art to a new generation of artists, a very admirable decision. Her hard work is to be rewarded as her pupil Shino will be the first Maiko to be promoted to Geisha status in 40 years. The Akita Maiko are very lucky to have this great lady as their onesan.

Source: Akita Maiko on Instagram / Kazuhiko Komatsu on Twitter / Sakigake.jp / Akita Yuzawa Yunohana on Facebook