Author: Shi Yu bomb positive
Yoshihara Yuko refers to the red light district recognized by the Edo shogunate. Originally located near the Nihonbashi in Edo Castle, the current Nihonbashi Rengakucho, it was first formed by the transfer of part of the Ninchocho-cho under Suruga Castle. After the Ming Dynasty fire, Yoshihara Yuko moved to the Japanese behind Sensoji Temple, so everyone called the former Motoyoshihara and the latter Shinyoshihara.
At first, in the eighteenth year of Tenshō, that is, in 1590, the Tokugawa family became the head of Edo because of the transfer of the seal, but later in the eighth year of Keicho, the Edo shogunate began to operate, so Edo Castle became active and became the samurai capital of Kanto since Kamakura. When the Tokugawa family came to power in Edo, they led a number of vassal groups and quickly completed the reorganization of urban functions, and Edo gradually developed into the largest city in the Kanto region. In addition, the era of war and chaos has ended, and there are many Ronin people seeking career development in Edo, which shows that there are very few women in this place, coupled with the development of the tertiary industry brought about by the great development of business. Therefore, in the context of such an era, various green buildings bloomed everywhere in Edo Castle.
Yoshihara in ukiyo-e
While promoting the large-scale construction of Edo Castle, it was necessary for the Tokugawa family to renovate the perimeter of samurai residences in order to improve Edo Castle to a city that could dominate the whole country. For this reason, civilians were often forced to relocate, including the Qinglou, of course. This kind of thing was not uncommon in the early Edo period, so practitioners began to petition the shogunate. At first, the shogunate did not negotiate with it, but after many representations, in the seventeenth year of Keicho, in front of the original Vow Temple, Shoji Shiemon, who was the representative of the owner of the Qinglou Building, put forward the following conditions:
Guaranteed to only let guests stay one night at a time, will not stay here all the time without leaving.
Girls who have been cheated and sold will be sent home after investigation.
If a criminal is found, it is reported to the government.
Of course, these three conditions were accepted, but at that time, no special red light district was deliberately demarcated. Five years after this petition, that is, in the third year of Yuan He, the owners of the Qinglou Building, represented by the Very Right Guard Gate, finally got the red light district "Ye Yuan" that could specialize in customs. At that time, the shogunate made such a plan, except for the specially designated red light district, in other parts of Edo City, it was not allowed to engage in customs and customs, nor to send tourist girls to the city - in ancient Japan, the little sisters who provided special services were called tourist girls, and another requirement was that the architectural decoration of entertainment clubs and the technicians should not be too luxurious, so as not to affect the social atmosphere. However, until the Kuan Yong period, the technicians still went to the place where the storytellers went to solicit business.
Eventually, for this reason, the shogunate needed to collect taxes from the entertainment clubs, and if these places were gathered together, it would facilitate the administration of law and order and have as little impact on the social atmosphere as possible. In this case, Yoshihara appeared.
The land provided by the shogunate for The Right Gate at that time was located in the four-sided area connecting the Nihonbashi Ishiya town, close to the overgrown coast, and was a remote suburb from the perspective of the entire Edo at that time. "Yoshihara" came from here. After the relocation of Yoshihara, the towns of Namba, Sumiyoshi, Takasa, and Shinwazumi appeared on the site. Span the current Nihonbashi Renkokucho 2nd and 3rd chome and Nihonbashi Tomizawa Town.
In the seventeenth year of Kanei, that is, in 1640, the shogunate forbade the Qinglou to operate at night. In this way, the relevant practitioners can only take advantage of the loopholes in the regulations and change the entertainment club into a bathing center for health care, so many people go to Yoshihara to "take a bath".
With the great socio-economic development, Edo Castle grew larger and larger, so that the samurai master's Yashiki in Edo gradually became adjacent to Yoshihara. Although such a thing has the advantage of not having to go far to play, the samurai master is also worried that the place where he lives is so close to the red light district, and there will be a rogue offender who is too crowded with people - presumably the wives will be more worried, right?
Under such circumstances, in the second year of the Ming calendar, that is, in 1656, the shogunate ordered Yoshihara to move. The candidate site is the Japanese embankment behind Sensoji Temple. Although Yoshihara asked to continue business, such a petition was not accepted in the end, and it had to be moved away. At this time, Kitachi pursues Ishitani Sadaki and seeks the following convenience:
The land on which Yoshihara can operate should be increased.
Open in the evening.
Abolish other non-licensed bathing centers for major health care.
There is no need to assist with fires and sacrifices in the surrounding area.
It can be seen from this that the grand health care of the bathing center is also the reason for the transfer. In September of the same year, the shogunate banned bathing centers and the operation of major health care. However, the fire is not a good thing, on the contrary, when the fire broke out in Yoshihara, there was no support from the surrounding area, but Yoshihara was burned out a lot.
In the third year of the Ming calendar, a great fire occurred in Edo Castle, and the structure of the city also underwent great changes. The red light district, which was destroyed in the fire, had to be moved forward. The place before the migration is called Motoyoshihara, and the place after the migration is called Shinyoshihara. Shinyoshi originally had kyo-cho, Edo-cho, Nakano-cho, Yōya-cho and Kakumachi.
In 1668, in order to control the privately operated green buildings in Edo Castle, the shogunate arrested some technicians and their mothers, Sang, and moved their work places to Shin Yoshihara, so the newly established relocation site was called "Fushimicho New Road" and "Sakaicho New Road". At that time, the popular technician rating was also divided into "loose tea" and "buried tea", which had a significant impact on their credibility in business.
In the 191 years from the fourth year of Yanbao to the second year of Keio, there were twenty-two fires in Shinyoshihara. In particular, the fires caused by the Ansei Edo earthquake killed more than 1,020 people in Kukunai, and there were more than 530 technicians alone. Since Yoshihara's houses at that time were mostly made of wood and were connected together, if one place caught fire, other places would catch fire.
As of the later promulgation of the ban on the business of qinglou, in addition to Edo, There are also large-scale tour outlines in Osaka, Kyoto, Surufu, Nagasaki and other places in Japan, and there are many small tour areas in local cities. But Yoshihara Isho is still the most gorgeous and luxurious red light district in the country. At its peak, there were thousands of technicians. It has become the busiest street in Edo Castle, and is known as "a place where you can spend a thousand taels of gold a day."
Of course, technicians don't just have little sisters, in ancient Japan, little brothers who engaged in special services were called "Hades". Hades will serve women in need, such as widows, and will also serve the laymen. The place where the younger brothers worked was called the "Hades Tea House", and at that time, Edo Castle, such as Sakai-cho and Yoshimachi, had had a Hades tea house.
underworld
Many of Yoshihara's technicians work in the form of "serving the public in the year and in season". In other words, as long as you can work for a certain number of years, or by paying the money you earn, you can redeem yourself. Of course, the technicians work hard, and they have to sit behind a fence like a cage, waiting for the guests to choose. Moreover, if there is a fire, there will be a tragic incident in which the bad-eyed mother Sang is afraid that the technician will escape and will not open the fence, resulting in the young sisters being burned alive.
Old photo, technicians behind the fence
However, there are also some technicians who have done a lifetime in this industry. As you grow older, it is difficult to be idle, so you have to stay in the Qinglou to cook rice.
There are many rumors that in Yoshihara, if you commit crimes such as "trying to elope with guests", "stealing guests' finances", "escaping", etc., you will be thrown into the pool of Jingxian Temple, so Jingxian Temple also has the saying of throwing into the temple. Such a person dies, and if it is buried properly, it will bring misfortune, so it is thrown into the water like a dog and a cat. However, in fact, the reason why The Temple is called toso-ji temple is because in the Ansei Edo earthquake that occurred in the second year of Ansei, that is, in 1855, more than 600 young sisters unfortunately died and could only be buried in the Temple.
Of course, technicians also have rankings. The highest rank of technician has been called Taifu during the Baoli years, and the following are the levels of "bureau" and "end". When Edo's bathing center Daimyō was forcibly transferred to Yoshihara, the name "sancha" appeared, and later Hanaku. In the flower queen world, there are young flower queen candidates called Zhen Sleeve New Creation, as well as a little Lolita called "Bald", who serves The Flower Queen, and the Flower Queen can freely choose guests to a certain extent.
Flower queen of the Meiji era
By the Meiji era, social venues for politics and finance had moved to Tsuyonmachi, which was close to central Tokyo, and Yoshihara's silhouette was gradually reduced.
Later, through the post-war rectification movement and the promulgation of the prohibition of special services in 1956, Yoshihara's history as a red light district finally came to an end, leaving only some bathing centers and no special services.
The Flower Queen of the Taisho Period
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