Trip to Kanazawa -Geisha, Japanese laquer ware

I went a went on a trip to Kanazawa last month. Kanazawa is a one of the traditional cities in Japan. It is similar to Kyoto. They maintain a lot of traditional culture.

One of the traditional cultures is the "Geisha". A "Geisha" is a traditional female Japanese entertainer whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance.
Luckily, I was able to watch the performance at an Ochaya in Kanazawa. An Ochaya is a traditional geisha house, normally only regular customers can see a performance by a Geisha so it is not open for the general public, but I went there on New years day so they performed especially for us. Their performance was graceful and beautiful. One geisha played shamisen (three-stinged Japanese instument) while the other two geisha danced to it. The classical Japanese dance is not easy, it needs special training for a long time. Most Japanese people can't dance it. It can not be seen often so I enjoyed very much.

After that, I went to an art gallery for "urushi" to experience making 'makie'. "Urushi" is a Japanese lacquer ware. It made from the sap of Urushi trees. 'Makie' is the name of the decoration technique, in which powder of gold is put on the Japanese lacqure ware. I made sakazuki by makie. It was so interesting and fun.

I would like to keep Japanese traditional cultures and tell the people all over the world.