Much has been written in praise of the Kyoto woman: her beauty, her grace, her charming and distinctive speech. Indeed, throughout Japan the Kyoto woman's way of speaking has long been considered the embodiment of femininity.

Today, however, the young Kyoto woman speaks in much the same way as her sisters in the rest of Kansai (the name for the Kobe-Osaka-Kyoto region). The alluring tones of genuine Kyoto dialect are now most likely heard from the lips of aged grandmothers, or in the entertainment districts, where geisha and maiko, many of whom are not native Kyoto-ites, have worked hard to acquire them.

Still, some remnants of old Kyoto speech, used by both men and women, linger on in daily life. A well-known example is oki-ni (pronounced oh-KEE-nee). Used by old and young alike, it is the Kyoto word for 'thank you'. Another example is the way old people often address others as anta-han, anta being a familiar form of the standard anata (you), while han is probably derived from the formal title san. The effect is polite and familiar at the same time. You may also hear an elderly person refer to O-cha ('honorable' tea) as O-bu.
Though true dialect may be disappearing, the Kyoto accent still softens modern-day speech. This can sometimes cause problems for the Kyoto businessman, who, when he ventures to Tokyo, often finds it hard to strike the accepted masculine tone.

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