Changes

The Yoshiwara got its start when Shôji Jin'uemon was granted license in [[1617]] by the shogunate to consolidate all the brothels in the city into a certain area, the Yoshiwara neighborhood.<ref>[[Eiko Ikegami]], ''Bonds of Civility'', Cambridge University Press (2005), 268.</ref> He had applied in [[1605]] to start a brothel keepers' guild, but was denied by the shogunate. In [[1612]], he returned with a new proposition. He argued that prostitution throughout the city created opportunities for daughters from "good" families to be abducted into the sex trade, for young men to be distracted from their work & led to squander their money in brothels, and for samurai to plot rebellion in courtesans' private quarters. Jin'emon proposed that all of these social problems could be controlled if he were to be granted monopoly rights on operating brothels in the city; the shogunate could restrict all prostitution to a single pleasure district, and within that district, Jin'emon and his fellow brothel keepers could keep records of customers coming and going, and could report to the authorities on any suspicious activities.<ref>Stanley, 45.</ref>.

The Yoshiwara got its start when Shôji Jin'uemon was granted license in [[1617]] by the shogunate to consolidate all the brothels in the city into a certain area, the Yoshiwara neighborhood.<ref>[[Eiko Ikegami]], ''Bonds of Civility'', Cambridge University Press (2005), 268.</ref> He had applied in [[1605]] to start a brothel keepers' guild, but was denied by the shogunate. In [[1612]], he returned with a new proposition. He argued that prostitution throughout the city created opportunities for daughters from "good" families to be abducted into the sex trade, for young men to be distracted from their work & led to squander their money in brothels, and for samurai to plot rebellion in courtesans' private quarters. Jin'emon proposed that all of these social problems could be controlled if he were to be granted monopoly rights on operating brothels in the city; the shogunate could restrict all prostitution to a single pleasure district, and within that district, Jin'emon and his fellow brothel keepers could keep records of customers coming and going, and could report to the authorities on any suspicious activities.<ref>Stanley, 45.</ref>.

The district was quickly built over the course of the next year, opening for business in [[1618]]. Brothels and teahouses were organized along four streets, surrounded by high plaster walls, and accessible only by a single point of entrance/egress, the Great Gate, or Yoshiwara-Ômon. A sign was placed just outside the gate declaring the district's monopoly, and requiring that only physicians could enter on horseback or in a palanquin, and that all must leave spears or longswords outside. By [[1626]], the last holdouts against the Yoshiwara monopoly - brothel owners based in Sumichô - relocated to the Yoshiwara, leaving only unlicensed (and thus, illegal) prostitution in the remainder of the city. At that time, courtesans' contracts were limited to ten years; however, they would later extend over much longer periods.

The district was quickly built over the course of the next year, opening for business in [[1618]]. Brothels and teahouses were organized along four streets, surrounded by high plaster walls, and accessible only by a single point of entrance/egress, the Great Gate, or Yoshiwara-Ômon. A sign was placed just outside the gate declaring the district's monopoly, and requiring that only physicians could enter on horseback or in a palanquin, and that all must leave spears or longswords outside. By [[1626]], the last holdouts against the Yoshiwara monopoly - brothel owners based in Sumichô - relocated to the Yoshiwara, leaving only unlicensed (and thus, illegal) prostitution in the remainder of the city. At that time, courtesans' contracts were limited to ten years; however, they would later extend over much longer periods. A typical contract, as of circa 1800,

Within the first decades of its establishment, as with many other aspects of the Tokugawa realm, the shogunate made incremental attempts to control the activities of the district. Some of these policies were successful, and became standard policy; others were grossly ignored or otherwise did not last long. An example of the latter was a [[1640]] edict banning the Yoshiwara from operating at night. An example of the former, however, was an edict the following year banning the women of the Yoshiwara from leaving the district (except for particular circumstances, with authorization). Many of these policies carried over into the new Yoshiwara, rebuilt farther away from the city, past [[Asakusa]] to the northeast, just before the [[1657]] [[Great Meireki Fire]] which destroyed much of Edo. It remained in that new location through the rest of the period, and this "New Yoshiwara" (''Shin-Yoshiwara'') then came to be called simply the Yoshiwara, while the old site retroactively came to be referred to as the "former Yoshiwara" (''Moto Yoshiwara'').

Within the first decades of its establishment, as with many other aspects of the Tokugawa realm, the shogunate made incremental attempts to control the activities of the district. Some of these policies were successful, and became standard policy; others were grossly ignored or otherwise did not last long. An example of the latter was a [[1640]] edict banning the Yoshiwara from operating at night. An example of the former, however, was an edict the following year banning the women of the Yoshiwara from leaving the district (except for particular circumstances, with authorization). Many of these policies carried over into the new Yoshiwara, rebuilt farther away from the city, past [[Asakusa]] to the northeast, just before the [[1657]] [[Great Meireki Fire]] which destroyed much of Edo. It remained in that new location through the rest of the period, and this "New Yoshiwara" (''Shin-Yoshiwara'') then came to be called simply the Yoshiwara, while the old site retroactively came to be referred to as the "former Yoshiwara" (''Moto Yoshiwara'').