Japanese Doll Memorial with Geisha in Kyoto - Ningyo Kuyo 人形供養

Ningyo Kuyo is a doll memorial service done in Japan for old dolls to keep them from coming to life and going on mass killing sprees as old dolls are wont to do. Ok, that's not exactly true. The dolls are ritually thanked and burned to drive away evil spirits.

At Hokyoji Temple in Kyoto (known as the Doll Temple for its collection of Imperial Dolls going back centuries) they do the ceremony with three geisha of the Shimabara district present. One was Tayu Kikugawa one of the few who preserves the traditions of the oiran courtesan.

After the ceremony visitors were allowed in the temple to watch Tayu Kikugawa dance and place the koto (Japanese harp) - however no photography or video of this was allowed unfortunately.