Geisha Dance Tickets

Every year each of the Geisha districts of Kyoto hold annual dance festivals, giving those lucky enough to obtain tickets the chance to see the geisha in their full splendour with vibrant kimono and beautiful hair arrangements. There are four geisha districts in Kyoto. The most famous and largest is Gion (which is actually split in two - Gion Kobu and Gion Higashi) and this was the area featured heavily in Arthur Golden's best-selling novel 'Memoirs of a Geisha'. Next door to Gion is Miyagawa-cho with Kamishichiken and Ponto-cho being the others. Each district has its own theatre and it is here that the spring dances are held.

We are delighted to be able to give all our customers who visit Kyoto during Late March, April, May and November (1st to 10th) the chance to attend these fantastic events. Tickets can be hard to come by so the more notice we have the better. However, we are usually able to fulfil even late requests.

The dances themselves are set to a musical accompaniment of shamisen (traditional Japanese guitar) and tell old stories usually of love and loss and life and death. The vibrant backdrops change during the performance to reflect the changing of the seasons with the beautiful pink cherry blossom of spring giving way to the greens of summer, the flaming golds and reds of autumn and finally the cold white snows of winter.

Tickets to the geisha dances are included as part of our Spring Elegance tours and for the spring and autumn departures of the Japan Enchantment tour.