Geisha Gion — the old geisha district

Gion grew up around Yasaka Shrine, where teahouses served pilgrims and slowly became something else: the ochaya, where guests are entertained by geiko and their apprentices, the maiko. Kyoto does not use the word geisha for them. The training is long, the house system is old, and the whole thing still runs on introduction rather than reservation, which is why the doors along Hanamikoji tell you nothing about what happens behind them. What makes Gion unusual is that it never stopped working. A woman in full dress crossing a lane at dusk is going to an appointment, not posing. This walk goes from the shrine gate down the most photographed street in Japan, along a willow canal, into an alley barely wide enough for two, and ends at the theatre where kabuki began.

Practical. Roughly two and a half kilometres, flat, and best in the hour before dark when the lanterns come on. Gion's marked private lanes are closed to visitors, and entering them or photographing geiko and maiko carries a 10,000 yen fine, so read the signs and stay on the public streets; Hanamikoji itself is public. Hanamikoji and Shirakawa are busiest in the late afternoon; early morning is almost empty and the light is better. The grounds of Yasaka Shrine are open around the clock and free, the inner shrine from 9:00 to 17:00. Ichiriki is not open to the public. Minami-za stages kabuki in programme months rather than continuously, with the Kaomise in December as the annual highlight.