Public Prostitution and the Yoshiwara - Meiji to Taisho Periods

Public Prostitution and the Yoshiwara - Meiji to Taisho Periods

After the Meiji Restoration, the new government, under the banner of civilization and enlightenment, promulgated the Prostitute Emancipation Ordinance in 1872. Although prostitutes were formally allowed to freely go out of business, in reality, only a small number of women were able to choose to be liberated, as they were bound by large debts and dues. Thus, Yoshiwara continued to exist under the public prostitution system, and became subject to sanitation and public morals control by the modern state.

After the Meiji period (1868-1912), Yoshiwara was transformed into a modern urban entertainment district with the introduction of gas lamps and electric lights, and Western-style architecture. Although the appearance of Yoshiwara was glamorous and symbolic of civilization's opening to the outside world, the life of prostitutes was much the same as in the Edo period (1603-1867), with the reality of a world of hardship, where women were bound by indentured servitude and borrowed money. The combination of glamor and suffering reflected the social contradictions of modern Japan.

Furthermore, the public prostitution system was a form of state-controlled prostitution that required prostitutes to undergo periodic venereal disease testing and to be supervised by the police. Although this was part of the sanitation policy and maintenance of order, it did not protect women's human rights, but rather systematically reinforced their bondage. While socially accepted as a "necessary evil," Yoshiwara were always caught between the light and the dark side of moral criticism.

While clad in the splendor of civilization's opening to the outside world, Yoshiwara's old-fashioned ways symbolized the gap between modernization and a sense of human rights. The development and contradictions of the modern state and the limitations of women's circumstances were concentrated there.