Kyoto's Gion residents have asked the city council to crack down after rise in tourist numbers leads to increased harassment of traditional entertainers.

A lack of cultural awareness and bad behaviour by tourists is leading Japan’s popular Geisha district in Kyoto to shut off access to the globally recognised Japanese women artists, starting April this year.

According to press reports, the historic Gion district’s local council has said it will now ban sightseers and tourists from venturing into the alleys and streets housing geisha and maiko, teenager trainee geisha, after facing years of complaints over growing buzz of photography.

Gion is well-known for being a popular tourist destination. Thousands of tourists visit Gion every year to take pictures of Japan‘s well-known professional performers, who are distinguished by their signature white faces and kimonos.

Isokazu Ota, Gion’s representative secretary of the town South Side District Council, notes that the small alleys will be completely shut off to tourists by next month in face of growing menace of tourists.

Starting April, the alleys which also host several restaurants and teahouses, will only be open for the geisha, their clients, and residents of the district, according to reports.

The statement adds that in 2019, the local authorities rolled out an on-the-spot fine on tourists troubling geishas. The professional artists were being chased down private streets in the district, photographed without their consent, and even subjected to foreign visitors touching their kimono and elaborate wigs. Before the pandemic, people were also reported to pull out geisha’s hair ornaments and hit them with cigarette butts.

Ota says that the problem persists as of now as tourists in large numbers throng to Japan after the pandemic with little respect for Japan’s social norms and etiquette.

“I think the foreign tourists waiting for maiko to come out in the alleys of Gion’s photography-prohibited areas know the rules but are ignoring them. Even if we warn tourists, it is difficult to get through to them at this point,” he adds.

The statement adds that notices prohibiting photography and imposing a hefty fine of JPY 10,000 (INR 5600) have also gone unheeded. It asked tourists to get consent before taking a selfie with, or photo of, a geisha, and that they can only do this on public roads. 

The local official points out this fine cannot be enforced on the main thoroughfare like Hanamikoji Street running through the area, apart from its ineffectiveness without any legal standing. Now by finally sealing off the traditionally and culturally rich part of Kyoto, the local council and the city government is hoping they can protect geisha and maiko, and also preserve the Japanese art and their custodian artists, adds the statement.

It says that the community was already reeling under the pandemic effect from 2020 on the expense front as the lockdown brought their engagements down by 95 pc. Geisha also had to comply with new rules of not pouring drinks for customers or touching them even to shake hands, and sitting two metres apart.