Seiwa from her days as an underground idol. “I enjoyed singing, but I wanted to express myself more.” She took the plunge despite her doubts. She finally found her way to Nihon buyo (traditional Japanese dance). “I thought this is what I wanted to do.” Her mother demanded that she become independent as soon as possible, saying, “After you graduate from junior high school, you will be able to live on your own.” Just then, someone came to her and said, “If you want to become a maiko in Ponto-cho, Kyoto, we will introduce you to someone.” “I really wanted to go to high school. So I was lost. I was also thinking that I could devote myself to the arts and perform a modernized version of Japanese dance. My mother had encouraged me to pursue this path for my own sake so that I would not have a hard time because I did not fit in well at school, and I had a letter of recommendation to go to Pontocho. My parents and I felt like we couldn’t back out.” When she was in her third year of junior high school, she tried her hand at “training” as a maiko. I was told that if I worked hard, I would be rewarded. The maiko’s mother was kind, and she felt that it was natural for a maiko to be strict about her art, so she jumped into the world of maiko. From “apprentice” to debut as a maiko After about eight months of training, she became an apprentice in October of her 16th year. Once she became an apprentice, she would wear a han-darari obi (sash) and train at a teahouse with other geiko. One month later, they would make their debut as maiko only after receiving permission from the proprietress of the Okiya (teahouse) and the teahouse association. “At that time, I had a ceremony with the Okiya proprietress, the head of the tea house association, and the lady geiko,” she said. In front of a gold folding screen, we performed the sansankudo ritual, like a wedding ceremony. We are like a family now, and I felt that I could not betray them so easily.” However, Kiyoha said that as an apprentice she had already had a bad premonition about whether she would be able to make it here.