Kamishichiken

photo by 今紫 · CC BY-SA 4.0

In summer the courtyard of the dance school becomes a beer garden served by maiko.

By day it is a short street of low houses with hanging lanterns, and nothing happens. The point is the evening. In July, August and September the district's dance school opens its courtyard as a beer garden, and the people serving at the tables are the *maiko*, the apprentice geisha. In March and April, on the other hand, there is the dance performance, the Kitano Odori.

The oldest of Kyoto's five geisha districts. Tradition has it that the seven teahouses it is named after (*kami-shichi-ken*, ‘the seven upper houses’) were built with timber left over from a restoration of Kitano Shrine, a short walk from here. The teahouse association has its own theatre here.

ℹ️ You can walk the street freely. Annual events stated by the association: the Kitano Odori in March–April, the beer garden in July, August and September, the Kotobuki-kai from 11 to 18 November. ⚠️ For the beer garden the association states the months but publishes neither times nor price nor how to book: the dedicated page does not exist. The ‘1 July – 31 August, 18:00–22:00’ that circulates comes from Wikipedia, contradicts the association's window (which runs into September) and has not been confirmed at the source. It needs checking year by year before being put into a day.

🚉 Kitano-Hakubaichō · 10 min walk

Sources: maiko3.com

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