Hanayo


Hanayo, born Hanayo Nakajima, is a Japanese musician, photographer, and artist known for her playful and subversive artwork that is often rooted in Japanese culture. Hanayo currently lives and works in Japan.

Career

In 1989 she began to train as a geisha in Tokyo. She later published an account of the experience in her first book, Oshakuchan No. 1. After studying for a short time at the Sorbonne, she formed the band Muscats in 1992 with Japanese noise musicians Masami Akita and Masaya Nakahara . Later that year Hanayo was featured on the cover of The Face magazine's December issue in full geisha attire. In 1993 she modeled for a Jean Paul Gaultier advertising campaign.
In 1995 Hanayo retired from her geisha work and moved to London, where she married a German man and gave birth to her daughter Tenko. In 1997 she met German director and performance artist Christoph Schlingensief. She moved to Berlin and worked with him on several projects, such as portraying Yoko Ono in the performance Mein Filz, mein Fett, mein Hase at documenta X in Kassel, taking part in Schlingensief's performance Passion Impossible at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, and playing a role in Die letzten Tage der Rosa Luxemburg at the Berliner Ensemble. In 2000 Hanayo starred in Shane O'Sullivan's film Second Generation.
Hanayo's single Joe le taxi has been featured on many compilations, including 2 Many DJs with Soulwax. She has performed with musicians and bands such as Violent Onsen Geisha, Red Crayola, Vapid Dolly, Black Dog, Jun Miyake, Merzbow, Woodman, Kai Althoff, Terre Thaemlitz, The Panacea, Pain Cake, and Ponpons. She started working with Berlin-based art band Wooden Veil in 2007.
In 2011 she and her daughter moved back to Tokyo.

Artistic style

Hanayo is best known for her experimental music, and is sometimes credited with starting the trend of small Asian women making unexpectedly loud music. Her photography pulls together conflicting elements such as piercings and Japanese tradition, or the concepts of "West" and "East", and shows how they can live in symbiosis, a concept her friends call "Baroque of the forest".

Discography