A Young Shadow Reflected in the Mirror of a Courtesan: A Quiet Afternoon in Yoshiwara (Late Edo Period)

A Young Shadow Reflected in the Mirror of a Courtesan: A Quiet Afternoon in Yoshiwara (Late Edo Period)

While the oiran is filling her smoking pipe and reading a letter from a customer, a bald girl of about 10 years old quietly borrows a mirror and adjusts her beard, reflecting the warmth that secretly flows in the strict world of Yoshiwara. The bald girl was raised to be a future oiran (courtesan), learning makeup, manners, and etiquette at the oiran's side every day, and acquiring a sense of beauty. The act of peering into the mirror was a natural expression of her longing to one day become as beautiful as an oiran, even at a very young age, and was a small practice toward her dream in a harsh environment.

The late Edo period was the most mature period of Yoshiwara culture, when ukiyoe and caricatures were in vogue, and the deportment of oiran was a symbol of culture itself. Behind the scenes, the bald girl's attraction to beauty quietly tells the story of a moment of growth for a girl living in the center of culture. The expression "trimming one's beard" conveys well the custom of the time of trimming eyebrows and locks of hair, and the innocence of the bald girl's attempt to improve herself by imitating the oiran (courtesans). Yoshiwara, glamorous from the outside, was a place of harsh reality for prostitutes on the inside. However, the momentary relaxation in which the courtesan accepts the bald girl's act without condemnation is a precious margin created in a world bound by the system, and the quiet breath of the people who lived in Yoshiwara at that time resides in it.