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Taikomochi Arai's Somewhat Serious Theory of "Taikomochi"

(2) Taikomochi, Male Counterparts of Geisha

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You may now wonder why I have insisted on your needing to obtain some knowledge of Geisha and Maiko entertainment prior to actually experiencing such entertainment. Behind the reason for this is the fact that most clients of Ochaya are Japan’s leading enterprises’ managers and other famous and influential persons of various circles, whose every action and movement attract such external attention that they have no other place where they can relax and entertain themselves to their hearts’ contents with the exception of Ochaya, which are therefore obliged to maintain strict confidentiality of any information obtained about them through their entertainment there, not because part of such information may be an infringement of the law, but because it may include something unexpected of such persons in their ordinary lives as they relax themselves there to such an extent. Accordingly, any person present on any such occasion of entertainment in Ochaya is supposed to have some such knowledge. For this very reason, as mentioned earlier, Ochaya, in principal, refuses to offer its service to any new customer unless he is introduced to it by any of its steady customers.

Japanese traditional banquet entertainment involving Geisha/Maiko service is generally classified into two styles: one is what is called Enkai experienced by common people on various occasions such as a year-end or new-year party, or a welcome or fare-well party held in a large tatami-matted room, for example, with several tens of guests in attendance, where several Geisha entertain them by serving them sake, while dancing, singing and playing instruments, and the other is what is called Ozashiki Asobi (which is literally translated as entertainment in Japanese traditional tatami-matted saloon) held in an eight- to 10-tatami (13 to 17 square meters) matted room for entertainment of one guest in principle, or two or three guests at most by two Maiko and/or Geisha called tachikata entertaining the guest(s) by dancing and three Geisha called Jikata accompanying the dancing by singing and playing instruments (shamisen and taiko ­ drum) with another two Maiko or Geisha on both sides of the guest(s) to serve them.

Taikomochi, male counterparts of Geisha, demonstrate the significance of their existence for the latter of the above-described two banquet entertainment styles, more specifically, in Ozashiki Asobi where one guest (normally called dan-na-sama, a Buddhism’s term indicating an almsgiver, which is used by a wife for reference to her husband or by an artiste for reference to his or her audience, apart from this special case where it is used to maintain the guest’s anonymity not to let the rest there know who he is) is entertained by a total of Geisha and Maiko ­ one Geisha on his side to serve him, two Maiko (“tachikata”) and three Geisha (“jikata”) plus Taikomochi, bringing the total number of entertainers serving him to seven (7) (the same number as that of Shichi-fuku-jin (Seven Deities of Good Fortune) known to bring wealth and long life according to Japanese legend), which, when added to one, the number of the guest, brings the total number of those present in the room to eight (8) (which is a very lucky number in Japan because it is written in Chinese character as “î™”, which symbolizes widening toward the end or increasing prosperity as time goes on). As the above is the way how Taikomochi serve Ozashiki Asobi in the true sense of the word, their actual service in Ochaya may be only seen by a very limited number of persons, especially at the present time.

In Ozashiki Asobi, Taikomochi normally entertains the guests by his sophisticated erotic storytelling art while they enjoy Geisha’s gracious dancing and singing performance in order to change the atmosphere of their entertainment for effect in various ways, making it merry at some time and tense at other time, so that they can entertain themselves in such a fabricated gracious world, forgetting the passage of time. Now, however, there are only few people who can afford to entertain themselves in such a sumptuous manner, causing the tradition of Taikomochi to be on the verge of extinction. To reverse the direction of the tradition’s extinction, I am now engaging myself in activities to let as many people as possible know its existence, not adhering to Ozashiki Asobi in its real sense with Geisha and Maiko in attendance, but positively responding to requests for my performance and appearance at various events such as parties with a large number of people in attendance and home parties organized only by women, which provide me with opportunities to give them instruction in the history and culture of Ozashiki Asobi and to have them get a glimpse of what it is like and understand the existence of Taikomochi Arai.

Incidentally, as the number of Taikomochi has decreased sharply, Taikomochi Arai has now used his home as an office for his self-management (kenban) to receive directly requests and inquiries from customers, Ochaya, restaurants, hotels and other similar businesses for his appearance and performance at lectures, wedding ceremonies, celebrations and other similar events.

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