The Light of Enclosed Love - Yoshiwara, Edo, 1770-1850

The Light of Enclosed Love - Yoshiwara, Edo, 1770-1850
Yoshiwara was not only a place of glamorous entertainment, but also a place where the greatest number of tragic love stories and heart-to-heart affairs were told. The stories of those who sought freedom, where love and contracts intersected, remain in secret. In the Edo period, prostitutes were bound to a brothel under the name of "indentured servitude," and were not allowed to leave the premises until their debts were repaid. Ostensibly, it was a business contract, but in reality, it was almost a personal bondage, and love was forbidden.

Even so, the prostitutes harbored true feelings for the customers who visited them. There were many cases in which oiran (courtesans) wished to become a prostitute or swore to commit adultery with their favorite customers. The most famous of these incidents are the heart attack of Okichi Akuniya during the Kyoho era, the death of Toyoshika during the Temmei era, and a series of events known as the Shinju riots that occurred frequently during the Bunka-Bunsei era (1818-1830). These tragedies appeared in the kawaraban (tawara-ban) and drew tears and longing from the common people.

Shinju and escape were also acts of defiance against the Yoshiwara system. Women who ran away from the brothels were wanted as "runaway women," and were severely punished if found. Even so, these women put their lives on the line in love and crossed the fence in search of freedom. The townspeople and warriors alike made them the subject of Kabuki and Joruri dramas as pathetic righteous women. Works linking love and death, such as Chikamatsu Monzaemon's The Flying Feeder to the Underworld, were inextricably linked to the reality of Yoshiwara.

In the late Edo period (1603-1867), shinju incidents became a social problem and were even banned by the shogunate, but love and tragedy never stopped. For the people of the time, the practice of shinju was a symbol of emotional freedom against the feudal order.

Love in Yoshiwara was never a happy union. However, the momentary passion that burned amidst the restraints was the very proof of life for the people of Edo. Behind the glamorous lights of the flower district, a light in the name of love continued to burn in secret.