Gion and Riichi

One evening I met up with Riichi and Tokiko. Riichi is a professional drummer who has come over to teach and perform with us for a couple of years now. He performs and directs the Matsurishuu group in Kyoto and is amazing. And very cool.
They took me to a show in Gion which is a showcase of traditional arts of Kyoto for tourists. It was great! I highly recommend it!
They do a little bit of all different things and was really interesting. First tea ceremony, then koto and ikebana, a maiko dance, gagaku (traditional court music) with this awesome masked dancer, a funny play, and my favourite - bunraku - the puppet play. They even make the puppet climb up the wall!

gagaku and the dancer

maiko dance

puppet play

Afterwards we went for dinner at Izakaya (this is a well known drinking / eating are in Kyoto) Japanese style tapas :)
Sooo much fun and very cool to catch up with them again. :)