Cycling Kyoto Four Geisha Areas

自転車で京都花道を乗る

For those with the geisha-bug, here is a route map for cycling to see the four main areas in Kyoto where the women ply their trade.

Three of the four - Pontocho, Gion, and Miyagawacho - are all close to one another.

The final area, Kamishichiken, is in northwestern Kyoto, about 30 minutes on a bike from Pontocho or a bit more from Gion.

In places, it is not possible to ride. Pontocho for example is too narrow; Gion can be brimming with tourists.

Parking can also be an issue. For Pontocho, cyclists will want to park somewhere along Kiyamachi - no easy trick - and then walk to and along Pontocho.

Happy cycling.



View Kyoto Geisha Theaters (Gion Kobu, Miyagawacho, Pontocho, Kamishichiken) in a larger map


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Pontocho Kyoto

自転車で先斗町

Pontocho is one of Kyoto's licensed geisha areas. Thus, along the narrow atmospheric street are tea houses where geisha and maiko perform and entertain.

Many other restaurants and bars also line the street, so it is thronged with people every night.

Cycling is not an option except in the very early hours of morning. Even then it is a bit dodgy: if someone were to come out of a shop just as a cyclist was passing, the ending would not be good. There is no room to avoid a collision.

Hence, this street is a park-and-walk place. There is a lot on nearby Kiyamachi Dori.

Ponotcho runs north-south and is a tight alley that lies between the Kamo River and Kiyamachi in central Kyoto.

The name is thought to derive from the Portuguese "ponto" (point) and Japanese "cho" (neighborhood). The flowers of the night - geisha and maiko - have been working in the tea houses here since the 16th century. In the distant past, prostitution also was common on the street. Today that is not the case.

At the northern end of the street is the Pontocho Kaburenjo (pictured below), a theater in which geisha have performed twice annually since the 1870s.

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Kyoto Maiko on Pontocho

京都先斗町舞子

We are not sure what if anything this lovely creature has to do with cycling, but she reeks Kyoto.

This maiko (apprentice geisha) known as Ichiraku is seated serenely near the Pontocho Kaburenjo Theater, in central Kyoto, surrounded by tourists, assorted leg-humpers, and a party of people she appeared to be with.

Poised and perfect.

It must be brutal work.

Editor's note: this photo was taken in May 2008.


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Cycle Kyoto Geisha

京都で芸者を発見

According to better informed sources than CycleKyoto, this lovely woman is a maiko, or apprentice geisha. She is not yet a geisha.

We were leading a small group of tourists on the Kyoto Station to Kiyamachi route, and decided to get off the bikes and wander on the adjacent alley way known as Pontocho.

Pontocho is a narrow car-free (and bike-free) street with restaurants and tea houses where the maiko and geisha entertain.

In front of the theater, just south of Sanjo on Pontocho, the maiko called Ichiraku was seated surrounded by fans.

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