Between Art and Life -- Asakusa, December 1974
A middle-aged geisha who once made her name in Asakusa's flower district is now running around town as a newspaper delivery person. The reality of her life has made her mornings come early, and she no longer holds a shamisen in her hand but a bundle of newspapers. In 1974, the hustle and bustle of the period of rapid economic growth had subsided, and after the oil shock, "thrift and frugality" became the watchwords of society. The glamorous traditional culture was also about to be swallowed up by the wave of pragmatism and efficiency. The town's inability to allocate funds to geiko culture as a tourism resource also pushed the girls out onto the streets.
Despite being called "geisha crumblers," they fold flyers and make deliveries before dawn to earn a living, showing both pride in their art and resilience as people of life. His expression was neither self-mockery nor pity, but a strange serenity and certainty. Today, she continues to drive through the alleys of Asakusa, with both the glory of the past and the harshness of the present etched on her body. There, in the afterglow of the Showa period and the dignity of a small life blooming in its shadow.
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