In the NHK Taiga drama " UNBOUND (Berabou) " (General TV, Sunday 8pm and others), starring actor Ryusei Yokohama , Tsutaya Juzaburo, played by Yokohama, is depicted as trying his best to promote Yoshiwara in every way possible. In addition to the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters officially recognized by the shogunate, Edo had around 60 unofficial (illegal) pleasure quarters called okabasho. Compared to Yoshiwara, the okabasho were cheaper and there were no troublesome customs, so people could have fun casually.
Originally, brothels were targets for crackdown by the authorities. Prostitutes who were arrested were forced to work for free in Yoshiwara for three years. Brothels would purchase prostitutes at bids, and the winning bids would be paid to the magistrate's office. However, except for the Kansei Reforms (1787-1793) led by the chief senior councilor Matsudaira Sadanobu and the Tenpo Reforms (1841-1843) led by the senior councilor Mizuno Tadakuni, crackdown on brothels was not thorough.
In this two-part series, we will introduce what kind of sex business was conducted outside of Yoshiwara.
◇ Edokko temperament reversed between men and women?! Fukagawa's brothel
During the time when the senior Tanuma Okitsugu held real political power, the shogunate was tolerant of and tacitly accepted brothels. In fact, it could be said that they were promoted because of the pleasure quarters that Tanuma had taken the initiative to create. He promoted a plan to fill in the sandbar that was a marshland at the mouth of the Sumida River, and developed a piece of land the size of the Tokyo Dome. He set up meeting teahouses and restaurant teahouses, which could be considered modern-day love hotels, and employed many prostitutes.
At the time, Tsutae was at the forefront of the "business competition" between Yoshiwara and Okabasho, and was forced to fight alone.
The most popular pleasure quarters in Edo were the Fukagawa pleasure quarters. This area, which is now the western half of Koto Ward, had seven pleasure quarters in and around Monzen-Nakacho, making it the largest pleasure quarter in Edo. In front of the gates of Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine, there were a number of teahouses, each of which housed around 10 beautiful women.
The Edo geography book "Murasaki no Hitomoto" points out that geisha who performed singing, shamisen and dancing were also popular, and that Fukagawa's elegance surpassed that of Yoshiwara. Fukagawa was located in the southeast (Tatsumi) direction of Edo, and Fukagawa geisha were called Tatsumi geisha.
Eventually, Tatsumi geisha evolved in their own way. They began to wear men's haori coats and to use men's stage names. They preferred the hairstyles of female Kabuki actors and had them styled by a Kabuki actor's hairstylist. They were known for their bold and straightforward style, which allowed them to stick to their own will. Courtesans also inherited the style of Tatsumi geisha, taking men's names and being resolute, and it is said that they would walk out of any customer who did not suit their wishes, even if they were offered money.
Men were attracted to these masculine and stylish prostitutes and geisha. In Fukagawa, the "Edokko temperament" created an atmosphere in which the roles of men and women were reversed.
◇ "Edo women were spirited." Is the distorted male-to-female ratio in the population the reason behind this?
Nishizawa Ippō (1802-1853), a kyogen playwright from Osaka, was surprised when he came to Edo by the fact that, "compared to the women of Kamigata, the women of Edo were spirited."
He expresses his opinion that, "Because there were few women in Edo, there was no need for them to fawn on men, and they naturally became more bubbly and spirited. Even if they were not very good-looking, if they were trained in the arts from a young age, they could become servants in a samurai residence. There were plenty of places for them to go, so they were strong-willed even at a young age. Because of this, husbands could not stand up to their wives."
The Edo period essay on customs, titled "Sekai Kenbunroku," also states, "When their husbands go out to work, the women living in the tenement houses gather together to complain about their husbands, spend their time drinking, going to the theater, or gambling.When their husbands come home, they boss them around and make them cook," emphasizing the "housewife's rule."
It's true that there were few women in Edo. The first population census was conducted in 1721 targeting townspeople in Edo. It found that there were 323,285 men and 178,109 women, a ratio of 65% men and 35% women. Because Edo was a city that had been continuously constructed artificially, there were many male craftsmen. There were also many male employees in merchant houses. After that, the number of women gradually increased, and by the end of the Edo period, the ratio of men to women among townspeople was almost equal.
Perhaps the popularity of Fukagawa's manly geisha and courtesans was also a reflection of the wife's lifestyle.
The surprising reason why Yoshiwara was burned down 18 times
"History of Fukagawa Ward" (1926) offers an interesting view on another reason why Fukagawa was so lively. "It was because the Edo Shogunate not only tolerated it, but in fact tended to secretly subsidize it," he says, explaining that Fukagawa's okabasho was "a Shogunate policy to promote newly developed areas." Fukagawa was a newly developed area that was developed by filling in Edo's garbage. No one would go out of their way to live on land that had been a garbage dump. To make Fukagawa a lively place, they tacitly allowed it to be a "playground for alcohol and sex."
Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine, which had a brothel nearby, is also the birthplace of kanjin sumo (sumo where an admission fee is charged), the origin of modern-day professional sumo. Kanjin sumo tournaments were held within the shrine grounds for about 100 years from 1684, and this was also one way of promoting the local area.
During the Edo period, Yoshiwara burned down and was hit by fire 18 times, but until it was rebuilt, it continued to operate in other areas. This was called a "temporary residence," and the temporary residence was often set up in Fukagawa. As Yoshiwara also operated temporarily at a popular brothel, it attracted more customers and made more profits than usual. The prostitutes were also happy with their temporary residences, which allowed them to go out freely. For this reason, it is said that even when fires broke out in Yoshiwara, they did not bother to try to put out the fires. This is the background to why it burned down 18 times.
For Yoshiwara, the Fukagawa brothel was their biggest rival, but they may have had a mutually beneficial relationship. (Text by Kenichi Komatsu)
◇Profile
Kenichi Komatsu Born in Osaka in 1958. Joined the Mainichi Shimbun in 1983. In charge of crime and administration in the Osaka and Tokyo social affairs departments. After that, he served as the head of the Bangkok branch, editor-in-chief of the evening edition, general manager of the North American bureau, and editorial committee member, before retiring in 2022. While he was an editorial committee member, he wrote the serial article "Walking with Onihei" for over a year, which overlapped the world of the historical novel "Onihei Hankacho" (written by Shotaro Ikenami, Bunshun Bunko) with the historical fact of Heizo Hasegawa and the society and customs of Edo. Based on that, he published "Tokyo in the 21st Century as Seen in Onihei Hankacho - A Reporter Goes with an Old Map in Hand" (CCC Media House). He is currently a lecturer at the Yomiuri/Nippon Television Cultural Center on learning about Edo from Onihei Hankacho.
