Geisha traditions are traced to the spiritual center of Kyoto, where they were specified as geiko and maiko. Such a lovely tradition can hardly ever be enjoyed privately. From centuries ago, geiko and maiko parties have been given privately only for limited members of society. This tour makes it possible for visitors to truly experience the essence of geiko and maiko in an authentic manner. During the event, English-speaking guides will escort you around the geiko and maiko district, to be followed by a dinner or party arrangement lasting two hours. Since geiko or maiko are privately arranged only for your group, you will have the chance to fully exchange conversations with them and hear their stories which would normally not be told to the public.
Posted By : LizHWI
This tour was so much fun. We did the private tea house tour and had one geiko and one maiko, the tour guide, and my friend and I. It was an all girls night. They played music and danced for us, and we played a drinking game, and the food was great and we had plenty of wine, but honestly we could have chit chatted away the whole night. Our tour guide acted as translator, but even with the language barrier we got a vibe going and we laughed so much once the conversation started flowing. We didn't want the night to end.
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Posted On : 2024-04-22 11:11:07 
Posted By : Nicholas_E
Getting to chat one on one with a Meiko was a once in a lifetime experience. We will never forget it and our guide/interpreter was incredible.
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Posted On : 2024-04-21 20:07:53 
Posted By : Erika_P
I had an amazing time with the Maiko-san who came to the restaurant. She talked, played with me and danced for me. For me it was a dream becoming true and I loved every moment.
My guide for the evening, Ms. Mie was very nice, knowledgeable and spoke perfect English. Se showed me around in the Gion area and explained a lot of the traditions related to the Maiko/Geiko world, so that I would be prepared for the meeting with my host.
The dinner was also very tasty, super traditional and with lots of delicious food.
Thank you so much for having me.
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Posted On : 2024-01-28 11:56:35
Posted By : 68i4327
First of all, thank you to Waraido Networks for making it possible for foreigners to have a private ozashiki (meeting / dinner) with maiko-san and geiko-san. This is very hard to secure - you can only do it through Waraido at this time.
For anyone serious about learning more about this beautiful but hidden world, you should 100% book this private dinner. You’ll learn MUCH more than at a group event and you’ll get to see a real okiya (house where maiko-san live).
Please note that Waraido doesn’t reply to messages but they will be at the meeting location they specified in the booking confirmation. First, you’ll go on a one hour tour of Kyoto’s hanamachi where the maiko-san live and train. Our guide was super friendly, knowledgeable and a joy to tour with! She answered all of our questions and taught us new things about this culture.
Then you’ll arrive at the okiya where you’ll meet the maiko-san and geiko-san for the evening. The whole dinner was about 2-2.5 hours and came with:
- A traditional kaiseki dinner with several courses. It was delicious, varied and very healthy! It was served by apprentice maiko, it was great to see that some younger people are still interested in this way of life.
- A LOT of time to ask any questions to both the maiko and geiko-san. With the tour guide as translator, it’s easy to ask anything. Highly recommend that you think about questions beforehand to keep the conversation going. It was amazing to see the maiko san and geiko san interact with us and each other.
- Time to play a traditional Japanese game - this was really fun!! We played with the geiko san then played each other 😂
- Two performances, one with the geiko and maiko together and one with just the maiko. These were beautiful and in a different category than what you see on YouTube. To be up close and see the beautiful kimono and obi, the preciseness of the movements, the sound of the instruments was just … out of this world.
We ended up overstaying so had to hurry out but our tour guide got us a taxi and made sure we got back to our hotel safely. I can without a doubt say that you will remember this experience forever. It is truly one of a kind and worth every penny and more! ❤️
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Posted On : 2024-01-27 20:04:33
Posted By : Elizabeth_W
Informative pleasant kind
Our guide was spectacular. Place was clean and food excellent. We learned a lot about modern day’s geisha
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Posted On : 2023-12-29 19:12:28
Posted By : DCBADGER
This is a review of the 1/2 Kaiseki Dinner with a Geisha/Maiko: The tour starts with a walking tour outside around the Geisha Quarter in Kyoto's Gion District for about 45 min. You learn about Geisha/Maiko and the realities and myths of the profession, which is very fascinating. Then you go into a nice restaurant in a private room for the group where a Geisha/Maiko joins. Food is served and a question/answer discussion is had between the guests and Maiko with our guide translating. The Maiko does a little performance with music, plays a few games with the guests, then has to leave for presumably her evening's main appointment. The food is very good and the 1/2 kaiseki dinner was actually plenty of food.
Our guide was excellent and professional, so 5 stars. The experience with the Maiko was great although she did not have have much room to move to do her performance in the corner of the room and the performance was very brief, so 3.5 stars for that part. Dinner 4 stars. Organization and communication was 1 star however. First, I tried to communicate with them several times after booking and never got a response. I provided dietary restrictions for the group (only thing organizers asked for) some didn't eat seafood/shellfish, but the dinner did not accommodate those restrictions. Last, we had 11 people in our group and I only booked 9 because of a 10 person max per booking, so 2 friends didn't join. The tour had 13 people total however, so the tour size is larger than the max number you can book, which doesn't make sense and was one of the reasons I was trying to get them to respond to me (through Viator was the only way). Overall a very nice experience, but it needs improvements to make it a great experience.
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Posted On : 2023-12-03 09:49:06
Posted By : Phoebe_M
Meeting an actual maiko was an incredible experience. A very rare privilege. Her dances were beautiful and she entertained us with some games. As she was the primary reason for the booking, I believe it's still a five star experience.
However, there were some things that I wanted to mention that we didn't enjoy. If you are a picky eater, vegan, or have some other sort of diet, the dinner part of the experience will likely not be very good for you. You can't modify the food so you will be served VERY traditional Japanese food. Some of which includes meats and other dishes that may be very different from what you normally eat. If you're adventurous and have no diet restrictions, this is a wonderful experience. I really enjoyed eating different things and love experiencing new flavors . It would be helpful if there was a menu talking about the different foods and ingredients used in the dishes because we had to ask the tour guide what everything was.
I wish there was a way to modify the dinner or at least give us the option to to opt out of it and lower the ticket cost. My partner unfortunately didn't enjoy the food and got sick afterwards. I think his stomach may just not be used to raw fish. We also felt like we may have been ignored intentionally or unintentionally by the waitress as we had to ask for water multiple times. But there was also a lot of other guests there so they may have been overwhelmed by the amount of people to serve. It was a large and boisterous group.
Due to the size of the group, we could barely hear the tour guide when walking around the city.
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Posted On : 2023-11-23 16:16:03
Posted By : Manny_S
I tried contacting the tour guide no response as one of the guest was vegetarian. I messaged Viator multiple times so they can get in contact and I would get the response of We will keep you posted via email as soon as we heard back from them. When we arrived for experience I let the tour guide no and told me it’s already a fixed menu. I contacted Viator for some type of refund and nothing has been done .
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Posted On : 2023-11-05 18:16:52
Posted By : Michael_C
Mei our guide was first class. Her knowledge incredible but mostly her love of the Maiko’s and Geiko’s. Our Maiko who joined us for dinner was so engaging and sweet. And her dancing so special. One of the most special evenings we’ve ever had traveling the world.
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Posted On : 2023-11-04 20:20:15
Posted By : David_S
Super fun family experience..: started with a walking tour of the Geisha part of the city with a guide who spoke great English. She was super excited to share with us her knowledge of the Geisha culture.. the tea house setting was very fascinating with a Meiko and Geisha dinner where they answered lots of questions and performed. Also accompanied by a traditional Japanese dinner that was very elaborate… come hungry.
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Posted On : 2023-10-30 02:08:07
