Forbidden Kyoto

In the first part of this fresh, unusual series inside the world of Forbidden Kyoto, which outside eyes seldom see, a popular British photographer focuses on a maiko. We watch as she grows from maiko to geiko status and observe the unusual ceremony which marks the transition, entering deep into the forbidden, everyday world of the Kyoto hanamachi and encountering the maiko and geiko as they really are. The program depicts the maiko who live in the hanamachi and people who strive to preserve the traditional culture.

In the second part of this fresh, unusual series inside the world of Forbidden Kyoto, which outside eyes seldom see, an American scholar of Oriental Studies delves into the Jidai Matsuri festival and Kurama fire festival held in Kyoto on October 22nd each year. They are held on the same day but are otherwise utterly different, the one embodying stasis and the other extraordinary dynamism.

In the third part of this fresh, unusual series inside the world of Forbidden Kyoto, which outside eyes seldom see, we feature the representative Japanese drink of green tea. It is popular overseas as well but not so many people know about the history and all the different types which emerge from the various production processes. Tea has played an important role in Japanese history and is really far more than just a drink. We learn about Japanese-style hospitality and aesthetics through the eyes of an American potter as he travels through the world of Japanese tea.

In the fourth part of this fresh, unusual series inside the world of Forbidden Kyoto, which outside eyes seldom see, an American scholar of Oriental Studies observes two rites of the Kyoto winter, Manekiage and the Hanamachi Souken.

This is the fifth in our popular series of programs taking a fresh, distinctive look at forbidden worlds of Kyoto that can usually only be glimpsed for fleeting moments. We have already visited the Gion and other entertainment districts, the home of a tea ceremony school and other usually unvisitable places but now we penetrate Shimabara itself at the very pinnacle of the Japanese entertainment pyramid, the most inaccessible place of them all.

The theme of the 6th segment of this series is Kyoto cuisine. Being the potential candidate of the World Heritage, it is continuously evolving by adding modern arrangements to traditions handed down for over 1000 years.