JAPAN | Saturday, 12 January 2013 | Views [990] | View Smaller Image
Draped in impossibly elaborate kimono—the most lavish of which can cost upwards of $100,000 USD—and with her face painted porcelain white, catching a glimpse of a maiko as she glides through the worn, well-traveled streets of Gion is akin to gazing upon not a flesh and blood woman, but a ghost. Poised and perfectly put together, geiko and maiko exude elegance and are the living embodiment of centuries of Japanese culture and tradition. So long as they continue to haunt its lanes and alleyways, Gion’s secret histories can endure.
