Yoshiwara (吉原) was a famousyūkaku (red-light district) inEdo, present-dayTokyo,Japan. Established in 1617, Yoshiwara was one of three licensed and well-known red-light districts created during the early 17th century by theTokugawa shogunate, alongsideShimabara inKyoto in 1640[1] andShinmachi inOsaka.[1]
Created by the shogunate to curtail the tastes of and sequester thenouveau richechōnin (merchant) classes, the entertainment offered in Yoshiwara, alongside other licensed districts, would eventually originategeisha, who would become known as the fashionable companions of thechōnin classes and simultaneously cause the demise ofoiran, the upper-class courtesans of the red-light districts.
The licensed district of Yoshiwara was created in the city of Edo, near to the area today known asNihonbashi, itself close to the beginning of theTōkaidō road, the primary route to westernKyoto during the Edo period.
In 1656, due to the need for space as the city grew, the government decided to relocate Yoshiwara, with plans being made to move the district to its present location north ofAsakusa on the outskirts of the city. The location corresponds to modern-day Senzoku 4-Chōme in TokyoTaitō-ku.[2] It was accessible via the Sanyo canal which was eventually filled in.[2]
Having been established some decades earlier, the original Yoshiwara district burned down, along with much of the city, in theGreat fire of Meireki of 1657; it was then rebuilt in its new location, named 'Shin Yoshiwara' ('New Yoshiwara'), the old location being known as 'Moto Yoshiwara' ('Original Yoshiwara'), though the moniker of 'new' was eventually dropped, with the rebuilt district becoming known simply as Yoshiwara.[3]
Yoshiwara was home to some 1,750 women in the 18th century, with records of some 3,000 women from all over Japan at one time. Many were typically indentured to their brothel; if indentured by their parents, a larger advance payment would often be received. Though contracts of indenture often did not last more than five to ten years, the debt sometimes accrued by these women could keep them working there for much longer. However, a significant number either served out their contracts and married a client, went into other employment (including other forms of prostitution), or returned to their family homes. In these cases, the advanced payments a woman's parents received could be used to fund her dowry.[4] Despite this, many women also died of sexually transmitted diseases, or following failed abortions, before completing their contracts.[5]
If chosen to receive the correct training at a young age, a girl indentured to a brothel could become an apprentice to a high-ranking courtesan; when the girl was old enough and had completed her training, she would become a courtesan herself and work her way up the ranks. Another path to success and eventual freedom for a working woman in Yoshiwara was for a rich man to buy out her contract from the brothel, and thus keep her as his wife or mistress; a further path would be for a woman to work successfully enough that she could eventually buy her own freedom, though this was an uncommon and infrequent occurrence.
Social classes were not strictly divided in Yoshiwara; a commoner with enough money would be served as an equal to asamurai, and though samurai were discouraged from entering Yoshiwara, they often did so, the only requirement being that their weapons be left at the town's entrance. By law, brothel patrons were only allowed to stay for a night and a day at a time. Like all official policies for Yoshiwara, this was rarely enforced.
Following its inception, Yoshiwara became a strong commercial area, with the fashions created in the town by prostitutes changing frequently and creating a great demand for merchants and artisans. Traditionally, prostitutes were supposed to wear only simple blue robes, but this was rarely enforced.[citation needed] In contrast, the highest rankingoiran (courtesans) came to be emblematic of the height of Edo period fashion, wearing colourful and expensive silkkimono alongsideelaborate hairstyles and a number ofhair accessories; these outfits frequently dictated the contemporary trends of fashion in Japan of the time.
Despite the reputation of Yoshiwara and its highest-ranking courtesans, most prostitutes working in the area came from poor families, would be commonly exploited, and were so poor that, when they died, their bodies would be brought anonymously toJōkan-ji temple and left at the back entrance, a proper burial being too expensive to afford. The temple therefore also became known as 'Nage-komi dera' ('Throw-away temple'); a memorial in the temple to thousands of anonymous prostitutes of Yoshiwara was consecrated in the Meiji era.[6]
The area had over 9,000 women in 1893, many of whom suffered fromsyphilis.[7] In 1913, the area was damaged by an extensive fire, and further damaged to the point of near-obliteration a decade later by the1923 Great Kantō earthquake. However, Yoshiwara remained in business as a traditional red-light district until prostitution was outlawed by the Japanese government in 1958 followingWorld War II.
Though technically illegal – with the definition of prostitution under theProstitution Prevention Law being 'compensated penetrative sex with an unspecified person' other forms of sex work that do not violate this law continue to exist in the modern area of Yoshiwara, with the portion of the town nearMinowa Station on theHibiya Line, now known as Senzoku Yon-chōme, retaining a large number ofsoaplands and otherfaçades for sexual services.
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People involved inmizu shōbai (水商売, "the water trade")[8] would includehōkan (comedians),kabuki actors, dancers, dandies, rakes, tea-shop girls,Kanō (painters of the official school of painting), courtesans who resided inseirō (green houses) and geisha in theirokiya.
The sex workers found within Yoshiwara would consist ofyūjo (lit. 'woman of pleasure'; the district's rank and file prostitutes),kamuro (young female students),shinzō (senior female students),hashi-jōro (lower-ranking courtesans),kōshi-jōro (high-ranking courtesans just belowtayū),tayū (high-ranking courtesans),oiran,yarite (older chaperones for anoiran), and theyobidashi who replaced thetayū when they were priced out of the market.[citation needed]
In addition to courtesans, there were alsogeisha, apprentice geisha,otoko geisha (male geisha),danna (patrons of geisha), and the female managers of teahouses andokiya. The lines between geisha and courtesans were, officially, sharply drawn soon after the inception of the geisha profession; laws were passed forbidding a geisha from being sexually involved with a customer. In reality a number of exceptions existed, with geisha ranging from little more thanyūjo themselves to geisha who offered only artistic entertainment and companionship.[1]
Today, Yoshiwara roughly corresponds toTokyoTaitō-ku Senzoku 4Chōme (東京都台東区千束４丁目). Yoshiwara today looks very similar to many other neighborhoods of modern Tokyo, but it retains legacies to its past, as it contains commercial establishments engaged in the sex trade although police cracked down on thesoaplands in 2007.[9] The street grid pattern and thetemples andshrines from times past still exist.[10]
Media related toYoshiwara at Wikimedia Commons35°43′25″N139°47′42″E / 35.72361°N 139.79500°E /35.72361; 139.79500
