The Reality of the Courtesan's Progress - The Light and Shadow of Yoshiwara's Brothels and Urban Culture (Edo Period)

The Reality of the Courtesan's Progress - The Light and Shadow of Yoshiwara's Brothels and Urban Culture (Edo Period)

The Edo shogunate authorized the Yoshiwara brothels in order to maintain population expansion and public order. The aim was to control the proliferation of colorful towns and to support the city's prosperity as a matter of policy. The high ranking prostitutes, tayu, came to be called oiran (courtesans), and they became symbols of the city's culture, with their extravagant costumes and culture, as well as their access to the performing and literary arts. The harumi-se and oiran-dojuu (courtesan escorting courtesans) attracted the admiration of the common people and became widely known as the flower of Edo's entertainment. Behind the scenes, however, there was the reality of the harsh labor of low-ranking prostitutes such as night hawkers and rice-serving women, who supported the city's sexual economy. Furthermore, the oiran themselves were not free, living under strict discipline and feudalistic control. The images of uninhibited romance and glamorous world depicted in period
dramas and novels are beautified fictions, and the oiran of history played an institutional role in supporting urban culture and the economy.

Thus, the oiran were not mere prostitutes, but were officially recognized as part of the order and prosperity of Edo society, and colored the Edo period with both glamor and intensity.