Have you ever heard of “Goze?”(“go-zay“) Long before tv or even before radio

Have you ever heard of “Goze?”(“go-zay“)
Long before tv or even before radio was common, this performers would travel through town and give singing performances accompanied by the 3-string shamisen. In those days, if a little girl was blind, she had basically 2 career options: to be a masseuse or to be a goze singer.
In Joetsu, groups of goze lived together in a house run by a strict house mother, who trained the women and took care of finances. In some cases, she took on the young girls and raised them for this kind of performing, traveling life. On the road, the goze would sing for rice and lodging. The last living goze house mother in Japan, Sugimoto Kikue, was proclaimed a living cultural artifact in 1970 before she passed away in 1989.
When you visit Joetsu, make sure to visit the Goze Museum, set in a traditional “Machiya”(literally “townhouse”) which is carefully curated by Mr. Ogawa, who is also preserving Japanese culture through the kimono store he runs in a similar traditional structure three doors away. Enjoy the art, dioramas, video and recorded music from this special time in Joetsu history. #joetsu #goze #takada #machiya #art #japan #japanesehistory #shamisen (at きものの小川)
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