What is Miyako Odori?

Miyako Odori or "Old City Dances" is a number of dances performed in Kyoto, Japan every year in April. These dances show traditional Japanese art and culture and were well visited by Japanese and visitors to Japan. Together with dances, Miyako Odori is also represented by manifestations of Japanese art, such as paintings, historical kimono and floral arrangements, along with formal performances of tea ceremony and Japanese music. Kyoto is known as the Cultural Center of Japan, and the city officials feared that the Kyoto rich history of performance would be diluted or overshadowed by movement. As a result, the city decided to start sponsoring Miyako Odori and cooperating with Yachiyo Inouye III, the master of the well -known Dance School based in Kyota.

performers in Miyako Odori are geisha, trained in various traditional Japanese arts including music, ceremony of tea, paintings, dances and arrangement of flowers. In Kyoto, these women prefer to be known as "geiko", which means "art woman", rather n"Geisha", which simply means "artist". In addition to the full -fledged geik, Miyako Odori also participates in the disciple of Geiko, known as Maiko and sometimes young women in training to become Maiko, also participates in small roles. Every year, complicated costumes are created for dancers, including the formal uniform of Kimono and emphasize for thousands of years of Japanese traditions.

Miyako Odori visitors can see a variety of traditional dances, usually done several times a day in an hour show. For dancers, Miyako Odori is quite exhausting, because he has to play flawlessly several times a day throughout the month, but the ability to participate in a great honor. The rigid rules and traditions of the Gion Kobu district control all aspects of Miyako Odori, from which the dancers can allow the order in which they are presented.

Due to the shifts in Japanese culture, the number of Maiko and Geiko in Kyoto is declining and even less trained dancers. This has aroused fears that many aspects of traditional Japanese culture may disappear andthat the former geiko advocated reforms that could help preserve the tradition of geiko before it will be lost forever.