Tokis-Phoenix
Apr 2, 2008, 21:54
An interesting insight via old photo's into the final years of legal prostitution in Japan;
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/photospecials/graph/080331baishun/index.html
One thing i found interesting about a lot of these old photo's is that all of the prostitutes pictured do not attain the traditional image of the traditional Japanese prostitute- even the one's wearing kimono's, there is no obi tied in the front, no bare feet, no suggestive makeup, no loosely worn hikizuri/susohiki style kimono etc; all of the prostitutes, whether wearing kimono or not, just look like ordinary Japanese women living at the time.
Obviously despite the ban, Prostitution is Japan is just as alive as ever, only that it has been driven underground more since the ban.
Some info on prostitutes and courtesans of olden Japan;
The life of a high class Oiran/Tayu with a good reputation, could be a very glamorous life indeed- she could have more independence and personal wealth than what most ordinary women could dream to have.
But the life of the low class unfortunately unsung prostitute could be a miserable and depressing life indeed, she could have little hope of paying off her debts or wining and dining with the upper class gentry of her day or being able to afford the gorgeously beautiful kimono the Oiran/Tayu wore, day-to-day was often a struggle with little chance of hoping to find a decent wealthy reliable patron to treat her well etc.
In the days of legalized prostitution in Japan, it was big business and often benefited communities. A high ranking popular prostitute with good reputation would draw customers from far and wide (and not just for her body- high ranking traditional prostitutes were talented in music, conversation, dance and calligraphy; they were quite educated ladies with high standards).
Because of this she would bring in money to the tea houses where she entertained, she would buy things like wigs, kimono's, musical instruments, makeup, takeaway food and alcohol, pens/brushes for writing, fans for her dancing, soap for washing, she would go to hairdressers, theater's, tea houses etc and thus so inevitably end up supporting all of these businesses and more. So a high ranking popular prostitute with good reputation could be a very valuable asset economically to the community/area where she lived and did her business.
Prostitution was a mixed bag. It could have many both benefits and negative aspects for the prostitute herself.
On the plus side, in the past young girls were chosen for their looks and their intelligence- the courtesan did not care much for what her background was, because that was not important because it would play no more part in her future once she was chosen.
Life as a peasant in Japan was never an easy life, and girls brought up in such a class/life could expect little more than to toil the fields for years and look after her parents, then have an arranged marriage and have lots of children, and continue to work in her husbands fields and house until the day she died- she would have little hope of having an education, or being able to afford nice kimono's or good food or good medical care for herself etc- her purpose in life was to work, marry and have babies (preferably boys).
So if such a girl was chosen to work as a potential courtesan when she grew up and was bought by the okiya, it did offer her opportunities to break this cycle of hard physical labor, marriage and baby-making.
(continued in a mo)
As she was brought up in the Okiya, she would be taught the skills that could later make her success as a famous courtesan, like dance and learning to play musical instruments etc.
She would have an education, be taught to read and write and learn the poetries and histories of old and be taught to use her knowledge and skills in witty conversation etc to impress potential clients- a courtesan differed from a common prostitute, in that a prostitute would just be chosen for her looks and the sex she had to offer. A courtesan on the other hand would largely be chosen for her beauty and style, skills/talents and personality (and sex)- being a patron to a courtesan was not cheap and a man couldn't be seen to be dumping his courtesans regularly (if he did get such a reputation for such a thing then the courtesans would shun him, since they had the power to turn down men if they didn't like them etc), so relationships would often be long term- the guy was essentially buying a girlfriend.
The courtesan could be the dream woman the guy always wanted- in olden Japan, arranged marriages were the norm and dating between men and women was often pretty minimal.
But guys still had their needs- at a young age he could get stuck in a loveless unaffectionate relationship, and that would be pretty much his official life from there onwards. He would still crave love and affection though and want a woman he felt he had a connection with, a woman that would want to have passionate sex with him and spend long hours into the night avidly listening to him talk about his thoughts and feelings, he would want a woman who would make him spellbound with her beauty and grace and who he would never bore of, he would want a woman who understood him and cared about him etc.
And so this is where the courtesan (and often geisha) came in- they would have a sort of dating process before any sexual contact was made, if they both decided they liked each other after an intricate process of dating, then they would further their relationship together and he would become her official client. She would offer him all that he wanted in a woman, and in return he would pay her for her time, take her out places, pay various bills of hers and shower her with gifts etc.
If she was to ever pay of her debts to the okiya that raised her, then finding a good patron was a critical part of this (once she had payed off her debts she could have a lot more independence in her day-to-day life etc).
This is all what happened in the ideal world of the courtesan. The peasant girl who failed to make it famous and find a good caring patron etc, could often expect no better life than if she had stayed a peasant girl. A lot of girls who were bought by the red light districts had little choice in the matter of getting bought or not (they were probably too young to realize the significance of what was going on), in olden times children were considered to essentially be the property of their parents.
There are also a lot of stories though of high-ranking courtesans adopting orphan girls though. There are also stories of courtesans having their own children too (although the courtesan could never marry though as she would have to stop her work if she did this- if she wanted to marry then she had to stop working as a courtesan).
Although in olden Japan boys were generally favored over girls, in the red light districts it was the opposite- a girl could grow up to be a real money maker if she was successful, however a boy would often grow up to be a wig maker or hairdresser, or perhaps a kabuki actor if he was lucky etc. On the whole though, girls were more useful and had more potential to earn big money than boys, so they were valued highly and preferred in the red light districts, which is in major contrast to the rest of Japan where boys were almost always the favored and preferred gender.
Some parents certainly would have sold their little girls in the hope of giving them a chance at what they thought was a better life, but i am sure more than often they sold their girls in more desperate situations. With no decent birth control in olden times, peasant couple's could often end up having over a dozen children with more children on the way- selling off a useless girl or two could mean one less mouth to feed in a very hungry poor family. Sometimes the parents would be old and dying and could not care for their children anymore and had nowhere for their kids to go after they died, so sold them off to brothels etc.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/photospecials/graph/080331baishun/index.html
One thing i found interesting about a lot of these old photo's is that all of the prostitutes pictured do not attain the traditional image of the traditional Japanese prostitute- even the one's wearing kimono's, there is no obi tied in the front, no bare feet, no suggestive makeup, no loosely worn hikizuri/susohiki style kimono etc; all of the prostitutes, whether wearing kimono or not, just look like ordinary Japanese women living at the time.
Obviously despite the ban, Prostitution is Japan is just as alive as ever, only that it has been driven underground more since the ban.
Some info on prostitutes and courtesans of olden Japan;
The life of a high class Oiran/Tayu with a good reputation, could be a very glamorous life indeed- she could have more independence and personal wealth than what most ordinary women could dream to have.
But the life of the low class unfortunately unsung prostitute could be a miserable and depressing life indeed, she could have little hope of paying off her debts or wining and dining with the upper class gentry of her day or being able to afford the gorgeously beautiful kimono the Oiran/Tayu wore, day-to-day was often a struggle with little chance of hoping to find a decent wealthy reliable patron to treat her well etc.
In the days of legalized prostitution in Japan, it was big business and often benefited communities. A high ranking popular prostitute with good reputation would draw customers from far and wide (and not just for her body- high ranking traditional prostitutes were talented in music, conversation, dance and calligraphy; they were quite educated ladies with high standards).
Because of this she would bring in money to the tea houses where she entertained, she would buy things like wigs, kimono's, musical instruments, makeup, takeaway food and alcohol, pens/brushes for writing, fans for her dancing, soap for washing, she would go to hairdressers, theater's, tea houses etc and thus so inevitably end up supporting all of these businesses and more. So a high ranking popular prostitute with good reputation could be a very valuable asset economically to the community/area where she lived and did her business.
Prostitution was a mixed bag. It could have many both benefits and negative aspects for the prostitute herself.
On the plus side, in the past young girls were chosen for their looks and their intelligence- the courtesan did not care much for what her background was, because that was not important because it would play no more part in her future once she was chosen.
Life as a peasant in Japan was never an easy life, and girls brought up in such a class/life could expect little more than to toil the fields for years and look after her parents, then have an arranged marriage and have lots of children, and continue to work in her husbands fields and house until the day she died- she would have little hope of having an education, or being able to afford nice kimono's or good food or good medical care for herself etc- her purpose in life was to work, marry and have babies (preferably boys).
So if such a girl was chosen to work as a potential courtesan when she grew up and was bought by the okiya, it did offer her opportunities to break this cycle of hard physical labor, marriage and baby-making.
(continued in a mo)
As she was brought up in the Okiya, she would be taught the skills that could later make her success as a famous courtesan, like dance and learning to play musical instruments etc.
She would have an education, be taught to read and write and learn the poetries and histories of old and be taught to use her knowledge and skills in witty conversation etc to impress potential clients- a courtesan differed from a common prostitute, in that a prostitute would just be chosen for her looks and the sex she had to offer. A courtesan on the other hand would largely be chosen for her beauty and style, skills/talents and personality (and sex)- being a patron to a courtesan was not cheap and a man couldn't be seen to be dumping his courtesans regularly (if he did get such a reputation for such a thing then the courtesans would shun him, since they had the power to turn down men if they didn't like them etc), so relationships would often be long term- the guy was essentially buying a girlfriend.
The courtesan could be the dream woman the guy always wanted- in olden Japan, arranged marriages were the norm and dating between men and women was often pretty minimal.
But guys still had their needs- at a young age he could get stuck in a loveless unaffectionate relationship, and that would be pretty much his official life from there onwards. He would still crave love and affection though and want a woman he felt he had a connection with, a woman that would want to have passionate sex with him and spend long hours into the night avidly listening to him talk about his thoughts and feelings, he would want a woman who would make him spellbound with her beauty and grace and who he would never bore of, he would want a woman who understood him and cared about him etc.
And so this is where the courtesan (and often geisha) came in- they would have a sort of dating process before any sexual contact was made, if they both decided they liked each other after an intricate process of dating, then they would further their relationship together and he would become her official client. She would offer him all that he wanted in a woman, and in return he would pay her for her time, take her out places, pay various bills of hers and shower her with gifts etc.
If she was to ever pay of her debts to the okiya that raised her, then finding a good patron was a critical part of this (once she had payed off her debts she could have a lot more independence in her day-to-day life etc).
This is all what happened in the ideal world of the courtesan. The peasant girl who failed to make it famous and find a good caring patron etc, could often expect no better life than if she had stayed a peasant girl. A lot of girls who were bought by the red light districts had little choice in the matter of getting bought or not (they were probably too young to realize the significance of what was going on), in olden times children were considered to essentially be the property of their parents.
There are also a lot of stories though of high-ranking courtesans adopting orphan girls though. There are also stories of courtesans having their own children too (although the courtesan could never marry though as she would have to stop her work if she did this- if she wanted to marry then she had to stop working as a courtesan).
Although in olden Japan boys were generally favored over girls, in the red light districts it was the opposite- a girl could grow up to be a real money maker if she was successful, however a boy would often grow up to be a wig maker or hairdresser, or perhaps a kabuki actor if he was lucky etc. On the whole though, girls were more useful and had more potential to earn big money than boys, so they were valued highly and preferred in the red light districts, which is in major contrast to the rest of Japan where boys were almost always the favored and preferred gender.
Some parents certainly would have sold their little girls in the hope of giving them a chance at what they thought was a better life, but i am sure more than often they sold their girls in more desperate situations. With no decent birth control in olden times, peasant couple's could often end up having over a dozen children with more children on the way- selling off a useless girl or two could mean one less mouth to feed in a very hungry poor family. Sometimes the parents would be old and dying and could not care for their children anymore and had nowhere for their kids to go after they died, so sold them off to brothels etc.