Sanbon ga areba taberareru 三本があれば、食べられる
If you have three strings, you can eat.
Like tigers and polar bears, Geisha are endangered.
Their category is one of the most damaged by the crisis in professions caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic.
When Japan, like the rest of the world, went into lockdown, all ozashiki (geisha parties) were canceled.
The Geisha found themselves, overnight, without work.
Now after the long corona period there are glimpses of light at the end of tunnel.
At times like this, the Geisha are the first to lose their work, and the last to get it back, because our work is about celebrations.
Teahouses in Japan have been closed through the many shutdowns, meaning Geisha have no place to work.
The teahouses have been compensated by the government for each day they were shut but geisha were not.
The small emergency funding they did get was not enough to cover expenses even for a couple of months.
The young Geisha have had to try to find work in the daytime.
Of course, they cannot stop renting the geisha house. And they cannot stop paying rent for the place they store the kimono. And, of course, they cannot stop taking lessons as lesson fees are charged even during holidays.
Now there are signs of life in the tourism industry and it looks like international tourists will be able to come back to Japan and local customers will be able to come back to banquets beginning next year. But they have to get from now through to then.
I am always worried whether the young Geisha will be able to make it through without giving up…
So how are the Geisha coping with this crisis? How are they adapting to the new post-Covid world, so as not to disappear?
Senior Geisha Yumiko Hakone tells us about it.
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