One of Koto Ward’s Hidden Gems.
Tucked away in a back street of Monzen-nakacho, running parallel to Eitai-dori Avenue, sits an unexpected treasure Sayuki no Okiya: the only remaining okiya or Geisha house, in Koto Ward. And not only that, but it is run by Sayuki, the first western woman to become a Geisha. With its wooden structure, tatami flooring, striking original blue-painted walls and warren of small rooms, Sayuki no Okiya reeks of the history of the Geisha world, and as I kicked off my shoes and stepped up into the old entrance hall I felt transported into a world very different from the modern one outside; a place where even the Geisha’s business cards […]