Kosen

Becoming a Geisha is no small matter. Leica photographer John Davies followed the five year training of a young Japanese girl, Kosen. In former times, the basic training for a Geisha began when a girl was six years, six months and six days old. Nowadays, future Geishas no longer begin training so early. Kosen began when she was fifteen. For five years she had lessons in traditional Japanese art-forms such as calligraphy, the tea ceremony and various instruments.

John Davies began at an equally early age to develop his passion, learning photography when he was just fourteen. A lover of Japanese culture, he has also become an enthusiastic collector of historic Japanese photographs and prints.

“Over the last 20 years, I was fortunate to travel regularly to Japan. While in Kyoto, I started to build a portfolio of images of temples and gardens. About 8 years ago, my guide and driver, Katoh-san, introduced me to Kosen, a maiko, who at the age of 15, was starting her 5-year training, and culminates in a maiko’s erikae, the ceremony in which she is conferred the status of a geisha.

I discovered that there wasn’t a book where a maiko had been photographed both during her 5-year apprenticeship and the erikae ceremony so I decided to produce a photo book of my own, Kosen, a study of one young woman’s journey to becoming a geisha.”

On June 2 at 19:00 there will be an artist talk and book signing with John Davies at the Leica Store Miami. His work will be presented in a pop-up exhibition at the same time. Further information can be found at: www.leicastoremiami.com. The Kosen photo book has been self-published. You can find more information about the book here.