Day: April 21, 2025

We felt a bit of a culture shock watching Miyako Odori.  The mimed story (with chorus narration) was universal.  (Fisherman nets a ghostly spirit who leaves him with a child he presents to an emperor.  The child grows to fight an enemy and both die.  Behind this tale the stage design goes from spring to spring.)  But the twanging whine…

For something new and different, we attended the Miyako Odori yesterday at the Gion Kobu Kaburenjo (theater) in the famous Gion district of Kyoto.  The Miyako Odori is a performance, maybe one could call dance, or maybe stylized choreographed movements. A traditional spring occurrence, specifically April, every year since 1872. The very first performance was…

Did I mention Kyoto Prefecture (kind of like a state) gets 75 million visitors a year and 50 million of those come to the city of Kyoto.

Lots of reminders about the rules.