Which One Would You Like To See Next Weekend, Geisha Or Samurai? Interesting Fall Events In Hachioji City, Tokyo!

Now temperature went down to comfortable level in Tokyo area. October is a good season to go out for events and festivals. Then, I'd like to introduce nice local events held in Hachioji City, Tokyo next weekend. It would be fun for those who are interested in Japanese culture and history.

On October 22nd, Hachioji Geisha will show their dance performance and also people can enjoy Macha tea, which is a type of tea for Tea Ceremony, served by Geisha ladies.  The location of the annual event is near Hachioji Station.

Hachioji City is an old town which had been prosperous with textile business since Tokugawa Shogunate era (Samurai era). The current downtown was developed along one of the oldest national roads, Rd.20 (Koshu-kaido), and it was flourishing area as an post town during the Samurai era. Therefore, there has been Geisha culture in Hachioji since old times and still it is remaining today. Now it became a rare town you can see actual Geisha Ladies.

Actually the history of Hachioji area is much older. During the Middle Ages, the area was already developed under a Samurai lord, Ujiteru Hojo. He was a member of Hojo family which was one of the powerful Samurai lord families between the 15th and 16th century. There are two castle remains built by Ujiteru Hojo located in Hachioji City, which are Takiyama Castle and Hachioji Castle. To tell the truth, the Hachioji Castle was the origin of the name of the area and today it is used for the city name. 
  
On October 23rd, Annual Hojo Ujiteru Festival will be held. It features a Samurai parade as you can see in the photos above and also in the short video below. In addition, you can also enjoy demonstrations of Japanese Samurai sword and Samurai conch horns, which were used as a cue for Samurai war in the Middle Ages.

An Open-Air Tea Ceremony Event With Geisha in Hachioji Downtown

As I introduced a couple of times previously, Hachioji downtown is one of the rare areas where real Geishas are still working. Geishas are usually labeled with the name of the area where they work since they traditionally work inside of a limited district. Thus, the Geishas in these photos are called “Hachioji Geisha”.

Although they are certainly working in Hachioji-City especially around downtown area, it is still difficult for people to come across them. There are not many of them. However, several events are held in the city where Hachioji Geishas participate and if you visit Hachioji on the days of these events, you can definitely see them.

This is an open-air tea-ceremony event with Hachioji Geishaa held on the Oct. 17th. With 500 Yen everybody can have a set of a traditional sweet and a traditional tea bowl of Macha-gren-tea (a strong green tea made of green tea powder) poured by Geishas. Of course a Geisha will serve the tea set to you.

Apparently the event started only a couple years ago, but it became one of the annual Geisha events in Hachioji.