I haven’t done a very good job of blogging lately, the real life stressors have taken their toll. However, I have taken a few photos of some fun times over the past couple weeks and I’m going to post them before I loose track. Afterall, my goal is to record the life of my avie in her adventures and misadventures.

Solo Geisha Show
A little over a week ago, Geisha Hatsuoki-san (right) gave a solo performance at the Little Yoshiwara Ochaya. It was a fascinating show where she danced to the music of sister Geisha Yoneyu-san, and later she told a wonderful historical story. This was the first solo performance I’d attended and we had an excellent crowd. It also gave me a chance to study our tea house and I think the photos help capture the event.

Geisha sisters Yoneyu-san and Suzume-san.

Japanese Gardening
On Saturday past week, I attended a Zen gardening class conducted by Rimpoche Kiama of the Kama Ji Garden Society group. I wanted to learn more about Zen gardening and I enjoyed the class. I learned that my torii gate is classic Shinto style, and not correct for Zen/Buddhism. I’ve been shopping for a new gate but may have to resort to building it myself (unfortunately, I’m not a very good builder). After the class, I did some work on my own garden and made a major change in replacing my small house with a lovely new tea house, see the photo below.

I’m particularly interested in all forms of Japanese gardening and will be writing my cultural paper on the subject as one of my final steps in becoming a Maiko. In doing my research I grabbed some photos from the Internet to illustrate certain themes. Below is a lovely photo from Kenroku-en.

I love my in-world little Zen garden, but nothing can compare to the beauty of a real life garden, can it. I know that there are people who don’t really “get” the whole Asian style thing, but when I saw my first tea garden when I was a child it had a profound impact on my sense of beauty.