The 96-Year-Old Geisha Keeping the Culture Alive

Shibuya, one of Tokyo's busiest districts, is changing quickly under large-scale redevelopment. Yet if you leave the station, climb Dogenzaka, and slip into a side street, you'll come upon a quiet ryotei [a traditional high-end restaurant where geisha once regularly entertained] standing discreetly behind wooden fencing in the neon-lit Maruyama district. 

From inside drift the sounds of kouta, short traditional songs, carried by the bright, quick tones of the shamisen, a three-stringed Japanese lute.

A Life Devoted to the Shamisen

At the center of it all is Koito Hisagoya, a Maruyama geisha now 96 years old. "Lately, my hands and arms ache. I never imagined I'd still be a geisha at this age," she says, deftly tuning her shamisen. 

Koito's repertoire spans a wide range of styles — jiuta (chamber music ballads), gidayu (puppet-theater narratives), nagauta (songs used in kabuki), hauta (short ditties), and kouta. With her shamisen, she has long upheld the traditions of Maruyama's hanamachi, the geisha quarter, always ready to meet a guest's request on the spot.

At the ozashiki, the banquets and gatherings where geisha perform, she never drinks alcohol. "That way, I can stay clear-headed and attentive to the guests. But I smoke until the smoke comes out of my ears," she laughs, never parting with her two packs a day of Peace cigarettes.

From Meguro to Maruyama

Koito was born in 1929 in Meguro. Living near the Gotanda geisha district, she picked up the shamisen at the age of six. During the war, her father scolded her that it was no time for music, but she couldn't stop. 

At 20, she entered the geisha world, and three years later, moved to Maruyama, where she took the name Koito Hisagoya. In those days, some 40 ryotei lined Maruyama's streets, and the Geisha Stairs, a stone stairway once crowded nightly with geisha rushing to evening banquets, still stand today. "Most of my favorite patrons have already passed on to the next world," Koito says softly.

Maruyama was long considered the home ground of Tokyu Group, the railway and retail conglomerate that reshaped Shibuya after the war. Founder Keita once famously declared, "Bring me every geisha in Maruyama," and one after another, they were summoned to his presence.

Among Koito's regulars was lyricist So Nishizawa, who wrote Karatachi Nikki for Chiyoko Shimakura and helped shape postwar popular song. He once encouraged her to take up the guitar, but she refused with a smile: "I love the shamisen, so I won't."

Manga artist Ichiro Tominaga, yokozuna (the highest rank in sumo) Kitanofuji, and former ozeki (second-highest rank) Masuiyama, the second-highest rank, were also among those who sought out her performances.

Keeping Tradition Alive

Koito recalls that it was her customers who taught her about the world. "I simply love this world," she says. "And I love the shamisen." That passion has carried her through, never willing to be outdone in the arts.

Maruyama once boasted 400 geisha. Today, only three remain: Koito Hisagoya, Suzuko Kirie, and Sankichi Kirie. Under the banner of Shibuya Wagi, they stage events showcasing shamisen, nihon buyo dance, and other traditional arts to keep the culture alive.

Eight years ago, Koito collapsed during an ozashiki and was rushed to the hospital with a heart attack. Even so, she returned to the tatami once more, declaring, "I want to keep playing the shamisen until I die."

Even now, Koito says the aches in her body vanish the moment she sits at an ozashiki. "Right now, I'm happier than ever. To be invited to perform at this age — isn't that true happiness?"

And so, the sound of her shamisen still echoes through Maruyama.

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(Read the article in Japanese.)

Author: Ko Notomi, The Sankei Shimbun