Night Cherry Blossoms in Yoshiwara - Mid-Edo Period to the End of the Edo Period

Night Cherry Blossoms in Yoshiwara - Mid-Edo Period to the End of the Edo Period

The rows of cherry blossom trees in Nakano-cho were designed and arranged after the move to Shin-Yoshiwara. In spring, the trees were lit by snowdrifts and the oiran (courtesans) proceeded under the flowers swaying in the night breeze. The oiran, who wear black lacquered three-tooth geta and carve outer eight characters, take a rest in front of a teahouse, accompanied by a bald or shinzo (a young man). Every move they made was an advertisement for the show, and they were a great spectacle for the common people of Edo. The seasonal symbolism of cherry blossoms, combined with the artificial lights and the splendor of the costumes, set the stage for a night of forgetting the sorrows of this world.

At the time, the population of Edo was concentrated and demand for entertainment was rising, despite frequent fires, epidemics, and high prices. The night cherry blossoms in Yoshiwara were an urban device to meet this demand. Hikite teahouses, restaurants, hairdressers, tailors, and even gardener's shops were in operation to cater to the cherry blossom-viewing crowds, and the seasonal festivities kept the entire town's economy moving. Even though the Kyoho and Tempo periods (1600-1868) decreed thriftiness in an attempt to curb extravagance, the cherry blossom and light displays survived under the guise of "modest splendor" and refined Edo's aesthetic sensibilities.

Cherry blossoms at night also depict the paradoxes of transition and everlasting life. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom and in decline for a brief period of time, and are swept away the next morning, but as an annual event, they always come back every year. The scenery of transience and repetition resonated with the stylishness and humor of the Edo people, and was repeatedly depicted in Ukiyoe and Kabuki plays. The night cherry blossoms of Yoshiwara were the essence of Edo urban culture, where control and pleasure, nature and artifice, transience and commerce intersected.