Hamayū (Tokyo Dragon Lady)

Hamayū (Tokyo Dragon Lady)

I’ve been asked to make a set-up for a series of events called “GEISHA” in order to do so, I’ve studied about the Japanese Geisha’s and find out to make my own Hamayū.

Hamayū (濱勇) of Shinbashi (1910).
A Meiji period junior Geiko (Geisha) with the Yamato geisha house in the Nanchi gokagai (Southern five geisha districts) of Osaka and a Taisho period Geisha with the Shinbashi hanamachi in Tokyo.  (Hamayū (濱勇) was a geisha who worked in both Osaka and Tokyo during the Meiji and Taisho periods in Japan).

She was associated with the Yamato geisha house in the Nanchi gokagai, which was a district with five geisha districts located in the southern part of Osaka during the Meiji period.

Hamayū later moved to Tokyo and became a geisha in the Shinbashi hanamachi, which was a geisha district in Tokyo during the Taisho period.

There are several contemporary postcards and references in the literature to her under the name Hamayū, both as a junior geisha in Osaka and later as a geisha in Tokyo, but none that accounts for the name Hawaryu. It is a nickname (Tokyo Dragon)

Hamayū, Meiji’s famous pride,
Osaka’s geisha, Nanchi’s delight,
Silk Kimono, adorned with grace.
Obi tied in intricate embrace,
a Taisho Geisha, a Tokyo’s star,
Beauty, talent, cherished grace,
Elegance and  pure delight embrace
Legacy of geisha’s timeless sage,
Hamayū, history’s cherished page.

materials:  acrylic on canvas and metal
size: 40”x 60”
years: 2021
weight: 4 lbs
work capacity (painting): ~67 hrs est.