Ep. 08 Kiyo in Kyoto (or The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House)
Written by Cordelia Shan; edited by Grace
In this episode, we will continue to talk about a manga called 舞妓さんちのまかないさん (Kiyo in Kyoto or The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House) and a little bit about its adaptations.
Listen to full episode :
From May 6, 2017, manga artist Aiko Koyama started publishing “Kiyo in Kyoto in “Weekly Shonen Sunday.” For the past six years, there have been 22 volumes of manga, one anime adaptation in 2021, and one live-action TV series adaptation on Netflix in 2023, which is available in English subtitles.
One afternoon in 2021, on the weekend, at home, a post jumped out at me on Twitter; someone posted, “everybody must go read this manga, please! Because after reading it, you will feel released, comforted, and warmed up.” They included a link to the Mai-ko San’s manga’s Amazon Japan page. After chatting with the editor of this podcast, who also highly reccommended it, I ordered this manga from volume one to volume 19. And finished reading them all within two weeks.
Maiko-San Chi no Makanaisan is a manga dedicated to the daily food and life of the professional Maiko of Kyoto's Kagai district. Each chapter has a dish of the day, a piece of the day's events. The main character, Kiyo, is a 16-year-old girl who originally came with her childhood friend, Sumire, all the way from Aomori to Kyoto, to train to be a Geisha. Sumire ended up continuing her training, but Kiyo ended up eliminated from the Maiko training and ended up becoming a helper at the Maiko House, Okiya.
Manga and Manga Artist
The art and drawing of this manga are on another level. Aiko Koyama, the manga artist, does a magnificent job. Every single character is cute and beautiful, and all have spirits living in the art.
Koyama was born in Aomori and raised in Yokohama. They debuted in 2001 and won the 65th Shogakukan Comic Award in 2020 for the Maiko-San manga.
Based on my research, Koyama wears a lot of kimonos daily.
Besides Maiko-San, Koyama has another food-related and female-focused manga called Chirori; we will find another opportunity to talk about it in our podcast one day.
Food
Just from the summary of the story, this manga seems like it should be a story of struggling to give up your dreams and change your life path, right?
Yet it isn't.
It is more about belonging, comfort, and love.
The food in this manga is belonging, comfort, and love.
Kiyo, who works in the kitchen, has an extremely warm and laid-back personality. There are detailed portraits where she goes to the grocery shops, carries her giant backpack, visits all the local shops and supermarkets, and engages in cooking and recipes.
The kitchen, as Kiyo says, is her belonging.
Kiyo’s home cooking style is everyone’s belonging at the Maiko’s House; there is some magic with her food. Her food comforts their hearts and spirits like a hot bath after a hard-working day. Her food also releases worries and stress like a fuzzy soda drink after having something spicy. Her food is also smooth and reassuring like candy eaten after taking some bitter herbal medicine.
In the story, there are several times that people question Kiyo’s ability and capacity to work at the Maiko’s House at such a young age. But, Kiyo learns about food-making because of love, and she has something solid to give and provide even though she is only 16 years old. Kiyo has a very close relationship with her grandmother, also known as bachan, who is the primary caregiver of Kiyo. She cooks not only for Kiyo, but also for her friends, Kenta and Sumire. Three of them often gather at Kiyo’s house and have food made by Kiyo’s Bachan. Bachan’s gentle touch on the food is Kiyo’s enlightenment of food-making.
Kiyo’s bachan is synonymous with kindness and affection. She is always preparing something to cook, and is never in a hurry. Every time we get a speciality dish from home, it's from bachan, and most of the food that Kiyo knows how to cook is learned from watching her bachan do it. Bachan is the family, the source of support for the girls.
With all the care and nourishment from her Bachan, Kiyo is able to serve and pass on love and care to others. Especially to her childhood friend, Sumire.
Love
The relationships and friendships in this manga have moved many readers.
Besides Kenta, Sumire plays a vital role in Kiyo’s life. Sumire, a real beauty, is strong, self-disciplined, and self-motivated. She is so talented that she is considered a “maiko who comes around once in a thousand years.“
The connection between Sumire and Kiyo makes many people envious. There are many scenes in the manga that demonstrate the care and bond between them, which is pure, clear, and straight forward.
I won’t say too much about the relationships between the characters, but as the story goes on, there is much deeper development on the topic of friendships and relationships, which is very exciting to look forward to!
Traditions
Here, let's also touch on the Maiko and Geisha traditions in Japan.
Before debuting as a Maiko, the girls usually graduate from middle school at the age of 15 or 16, will attend an interview with their parents, and enter the Maiko House as a trainee. They call the head of Maiko House Kaasan, which means mother.
Maiko are usually aged 17 to 20, and graduate to Geisha status after a training period that includes traditional dance, shamisen, short songs, and learning the Kyoto dialect if they are in Kyoto.
When a girl becomes a Maiko, they will be given an art-name and will be given a “sister,” like a mentor, who is usually a Geisha already, mentoring them through their career.
In the Maiko-San manga, Sumire is later named Momohana (which means hundreds of flowers), and is mentored by her sister Momoko, a top-ranked Geisha.
Currently, both Maiko and Geisha are considered as culture heritage. But, we cannot ignore the dark side of this traditional industry. Last year, a former maiko shared her experience on Twitter and attracted a lot of attention. It was huge and very critical. I read all the posts and appreciate her courage to share so much. Thinking back to seeing Geisha and Maiko-San walking in a hurry in the dark allies in Kyoto, without really seeing their face or their facial expression, I wonder what the meaning of keeping this tradition is if every one of them has a similar experience.
In the live-action Netflix adaptation, they touch upon this issue with Sumire’s father showing up and questioning the system and industry and then have two Geisha talk about what changes or revolutions they want to bring to the industry.
People are aware of the problems and hope one day. There will be a solution to respecting women’s rights while preserving traditions.
TV Version
It is still so worth having this manga adapted into a live-action TV drama to preserve and display the traditional culture of Geisha, Maiko, and Kyoto. The TV adaptation is very successful in revealing the view of Kyoto, the dance, the clothes, and also the food. The drama, which is titled Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House in English, has a great team and production working in the background, and also does a great job with the cast selections. There are so many big names in this show, too many, which guarantees this adaptation will be a good one.
I won’t share too much about the cast selection here but I want to highlight the actor Takako Tokiwa who plays Azusa Gasann, which I think is the best cast selection. Takako Tokiwa was named the Queen of Japanese Dorama during the 90s and early 2000s, not only in Japan but the whole of East Asia, she is the legend of Monday Night 9o clock, which is considered the most popular tv show slot. I grew up watching her shows and acting with Takuya Kimura. The most famous one is Beautiful Life. In 2015, Takako appeared in a Kyoto half documentary half fiction dorama on NHK and playing the “most Kyoto Female,” which is so unforgettable. Which I think is also the reason why she was chosen as Azusa for Maiko-San’s tv adoption.
This TV adaptation is produced by Genki Kawamura, who is a famous film producer as well as a novelist. His book, If Cats Disappeared from the World (世界から猫が消えたなら), was adapted into a movie and translated into more than eight languages, including English.
The director of the TV adaptation, Hirokazu Koreeda, is a film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. He is one of the most influential directors in Japan. In 2018, his film, Shoplifters (万引き家族), won the Best Film award at the Asian Film Awards, Cannes Film Festival, Denver Film Festival, Japan Academy Prize and many, many others. Most of his works are focused on female empowerment and families. In most of his works, female characters are strong, valued, human, and beautiful inside and out. His poetic narrative style focuses a lot on the individuals’ inner world. As one of his fans, I was so glad to learn he was the director of Maiko-San’s TV adaptation.
The sound track for the TV adaptation was also written and produced by Yoko Kanno, who I don't need to introduce to those who watch anime. This is not an unfamiliar name. The original soundtrack can be found on Spotify, and you can also find a link to it in the description box.
I think it's a super high level of television production and worth watching.
Ending
While having Chinese New Year lunch this Sunday, a good friend asked whether it was okay to give away my books. I said yes, but afterwards I realised there were some books that I would never let go of, and the Maiko-San manga is one of them. I wish I had told my friend I would never let my Maiko-San volumes go; because I will need their company a little bit longer.
After this, when you have time this winter, please try this manga and its Netflix adoption. It will warm you unexpectedly.
Reference
Manga on the Amazon Japan Page - link
Anime adaptation website - link
Netflix adaptation - link
Sound track on Spotify - link
