How Japan’s Azuma Odori, 100-year-old geisha festival, offers glimpses of dying tradition

The geishas glide with measured steps across a wooden stage, offering a glimpse of a long-misunderstood tradition that is becoming a rare sight in Japan.

Dancing with paper fans and dressed in kimonos, the entertainers were rehearsing without the striking white make-up and sculpted hairstyles they are famous for.

But for seven days until May 27, the women will perform in full splendour at the 100-year-old Azuma Odori festival at a theatre in the heart of the Japanese capital, Tokyo.

Geishas rehearsing before the 100th edition of the Azuma Odori festival at the Shinbashi Enbujo Theatre in Tokyo. Photo: AFPGeishas rehearsing before the 100th edition of the Azuma Odori festival. Geishas are a rare sight in modern Japan. Photo: AFP

“Japanese people themselves often don’t understand or have the wrong idea about what geishas do,” Hisafumi Iwashita, a writer specialised in geisha culture, says.